Lies For My Protection
by Tametiger
Summary: Charlie goes missing while out hunting, he leaves a message for Bella to ring someone called John if he doesn't return. How will Bella feel when she finds out that she isn't the only member of the Swan family to be keeping secrets?
1. Chapter 1

**This is my new story, I will be concentrating on finishing Help for the Hunted before posting the next chapters, however I couldn't wait to see what you all thought of this. The story is set in Season Four of Supernatural and during Eclipse of twlight although my story is set mainly within the Supernatural world. The M rating will be for a reason, I can't resist a bit of smut in later chaps and my language is at times appauling. So here it is. Hope you enjoy :)**

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Lies for my Protection

Chapter 1 Missing

"This is Charlie Swan please leave a message with your name and number after the tone and I'll get back to you." I left yet another message on my dad's cell phone; "dad it's Bella again, I don't know if you're even getting these but if you are please call me. Just let me know you're ok, please. I love you dad." This had to be at least the twentieth message I had left for my dad with not one reply. I was really starting to worry about him.

My dad had gone hunting two weeks ago – double anytime that he had been gone before. My dad went hunting every couple of months and had done for as long as I could remember. He really enjoyed it, when I was small and staying with him I'd ask him to tell me stories about his last hunt and he'd obliged telling me all about the last bear or buck that he'd hunted. So normally I wouldn't be worried; but tomorrow was my graduation from high school. My dad had been talking about it for months, saying how proud he was of me, so I knew without a doubt that for dad not to be back now meant that something was drastically wrong. Like I said I was really worried. What could I do?

I sat thinking of ways that I could find Charlie; I must have sat for at least an hour getting more and more frustrated with myself before an obvious course of action occurred to me.

Charlie may have left a map or co-ordinates or something saying where he was actually going. If I knew then I could ring the local ranger's station so that they could find him. Why hadn't I thought of that sooner?

Kicking myself for being so stupid I started searching through the kitchen draws, coming up with absolutely nothing. Great start then. Going to the next room, the living room I searched the side boards, the TV stand under the sofa, I literally left no-where un-searched, again though I came up with nothing.

The only place left to search that I could think of was Charlie's bedroom. I had a small irrational sense of foreboding thinking about going into Charlie's room, I hadn't been in there since I was tiny when I'd have nightmares, as I'd grown older there hadn't been a reason to step foot in there so I never had done. It felt strange to be going in there now after all this time, and even stranger knowing that my dad wouldn't be in there to comfort me.

Charlie's room looked exactly as I remembered it, slightly larger than my own, decorated in neutral tones of brown rather than the purple my room was decorated in. The room held a double bed, a wardrobe, a chest of draws and a desk, the only difference to my room was the closet in the corner at the back of the room secured with a pad lock. This in any other household might seem like the perfect place to start searching for clues on a missing father but this was the home of the chief of police, so I was assuming that was where Charlie kept his guns for both his job and his hobby.

No the secured closet wasn't what stood out in the room, what stood out in my dad's immaculate room was the white envelope in the middle of the neatly made bed, with my name on the front written in Charlie's familiar messy scrawl.

Well the letter was certainly what I'd have expected from my dad; short and to the point. I sat down on the bed and read the letter that Charlie had left for me.

_Bella,_

_If I haven't got back by Tuesday call John. _

_445-655-255,_

_Do not go to the Cullens. Please. _

_Love ya kid,_

_Dad._

What the hell was up with my dad? This didn't make a lick of sense, what was going on?

I tried to work out a plan of action in my head. Right ok, first thing was first, today was Thursday, so two days later than my dad wanted me to ring this John guy. I searched my memory hard, eventually coming up vaguely with a face to match the name. I think that he'd gone hunting with my dad once when I was small and staying here for the summer. Maybe John had a satellite phone or something, and that's why dad left his number for me?

Another strange thing about the note was that I really couldn't understand why my dad had basically begged me not to go to the Cullens.

They came back two days before my dad had left and he'd been openly hostile to them since. Refusing to let any of them into the house, or to let me out of the house to go to theirs. I guess he was just worried about last September, worried that they'd leave again, leave me in the same state that I'd been in last time.

Of course when my dad had been blissfully snoring Edward had taken me to his house a couple of times. It was great to see them all again, almost like coming home.

Something had changed though since Edward came back. He was as protective as ever, even more so really, but whereas I'd use to find it endearing, now it just annoyed me. He'd stopped me from seeing my best friend, as it was too dangerous, he'd stopped me riding my bike, he'd even started commenting on my clothes and driving. In short he was driving me crazy. But I was sure it was a phase, something that we could work through. Something we could get past.

Shaking myself from my random thoughts I rose from my dad's bed and went to use the phone downstairs.

In the kitchen I picked the phone up, only to put it back down straight away. This had to be one of the strangest situations that I'd ever been in. And that was saying something. But I mean what was I going to say to this man? 'Hi, my names Bella, my dad's gone missing and he told me to ring you, I don't suppose he's with you?' Yeah, that didn't sound weird at all. I sighed, this whole situation was messed up and this was the only thing that I could do to help. Help myself, and hopefully my dad too.

Clutching Charlie's letter in my fist I rang the number and took a deep breath. It rang, and rang, and rang. Eventually a noise came over the phone, a strange clicking noise that sounded like my call was getting diverted or something, then I heard the line ringing again.

After a couple of seconds the phone was answered by a deep male voice. "Yeah?"

I took another deep breath trying to calm myself a little. When I spoke, it came out in a trembling voice that was so unlike my normal one. "Er... Yeah, hi... Erm... Am I speaking to John?"

"No, this is his son Dean." Oh crap, now what? What the heck did I do now? "I'm sure I can help ya though, what's the problem?" The voice, Dean, said down the line. What's the problem? The problem was I didn't know where my dad was and I didn't know what to do about it, or what I was going to tell this guy.

I sighed, well I had to try something, and so far this man seemed to be my only option. "Er... Well this is going to sound a bit... Well a bit odd." I started saying, only to be interrupted by a snigger down the line.

"Believe me lady, what ever you have to say, I've heard odder."

I rolled my eyes at the voice on the phone, yeah, right, like this guy had heard stranger than my life for the past year. Oh well, maybe he could help me find my dad, maybe he even knew where my dad was?

"Er... Ok. It's my dad. He's missing and he left me this letter telling me to ring John; ring your dad if he wasn't back by Tuesday. I've only just found the letter or I would have rung sooner."

There was a short pause before Dean spoke again, I'd started to think that this was too odd for him after all.

"Ok. What's your dad's name?" He asked me.

"It's Charlie. Charlie Swan."

"So your Isabella?"

I guessed that Dean must have known my dad, he was the only person who ever called me Isabella. "Bella." I corrected the guy.

"Ok Bella, you guys still in Forks right?"

"Yeah."

The guy muttered something away from the phone that I couldn't quite make out before coming back to the line.

"Ok, we'll be there as soon as we can, stay put." The guy ordered me. Where did he think I was gonna go when my dad was missing? Tibet?

"Erm... Ok thanks."

The line was disconnected then, the end of the strangest phone conversation I'd ever had.

~0~

The next day, the day of my graduation, I woke with a pit in my stomach, just like every day for the past two weeks. And like every day for the past two weeks the first thing that I did was run to my window to see if Charlie's cruiser was back; yet again it wasn't.

Rubbing sleep out of my eyes I made my way downstairs to the kitchen. I poured myself a glass of juice, almost dropping it when I turned and saw someone sitting at my kitchen table. Clutching my wildly palpitating heart I staggered backwards, Edward was straight by my side.

"Sorry I scared you love. I wanted to surprise you, make you breakfast on your special day."

I guessed that it was a nice thought, but I felt uneasy having Edward here when Charlie had so strictly forbidden it. I pushed the feeling away, it wasn't like I'd never broken the rules before after all. Heck that was why I was on lock-down in the first place; dad had found out about me riding my motorbike with Jake. A motorbike that was still sat in the driveway, I thought wistfully.

"That's ok. Don't worry I'll make my own breakfast, thanks though." I went to the cupboard and pulled out a packet of pop tarts.

"Bella, I really think that you should be eating something with a bit more nutritional value, don't you love?" Edwards velvet voice came from behind me. Strange how the tone use to melt me but now set my teeth on edge.

"Yeah, probably, but I'm in a pop tart kinda mood." I said putting the offending food into the toaster stubbornly. I wanted pop tarts, so pop tarts I was going to have. Nutritional value be damned.

Edward pinched the bridge of his nose, something he only ever did when he was very stressed. What did he have to be stressed about? It wasn't like I was gonna make him eat them, was it?

"Ok, Bella, you can have the pop tarts love." He spoke as though he was speaking to a very young child, his tone pedantic and instantly getting my back up. And since when did I need his permission to have whatever the heck I wanted for breakfast? He was supposed to be my boyfriend, not my father. Taking a deep breath and reigning in my anger I started eating my breakfast, resisting the urge to smack my lips together and say 'yum yum'.

"What are your plans for after graduation today?" Edward asked me from his seat, his eyes glaring at my breakfast.

"Don't know yet." I answered truthfully.

"Why don't you come to my house? I'm sure everyone would love to see you again, and congratulate you of course."

"I'm still grounded remember?" I asked the guy with the photographic memory.

"Well Charlie's not here is he? He wouldn't know that you snuck out, and let's face it, it's not the first time you'd have done it." It upset me that Edward didn't seem to care that Charlie was still missing, was going to miss my graduation, except for how it related to his own goals, despite the fact that it was obviously upsetting me.

"Well, he might come back, besides some of Charlie's friends are coming round to see if they can help find him. So I can't go to yours in case they get here." I explained to him, shaking my head as a no to his suggestion while I did.

I looked to Edward and saw his eyes flash for a brief moment, I swallowed, I was in trouble now. No doubt about it.

"What friends? Who are they Bella? How could you not tell me this! They might be dangerous! How can I protect you if I don't know when you might need protecting?" His voice was hard, his expression actually scared me for a moment, for a moment he actually looked like a vampire.

I swallowed before answering. "I don't think that Charlie's friends are likely to be dangerous, do you? He's the chief of police for gods sake! There's two of them, I think. John and Dean, I think." My voice was biting, my anger was flaring up again. I was getting sick of this! I would eat and do what ever the hell I chose to! I would see whoever the hell I wanted to! And if these people could help me find Charlie then they were coming, end of discussion!

"Fine, we'll see." Edward muttered darkly.

"What do you mean _we'll _see?" I asked Edward, he couldn't be here when these men got here.

"Well I'll be with you when they arrive of course Bella." His voice brooked no argument, well tough, he was going to get one anyway.

"Edward, you can't be here when they get here." I held my hand up to stop him interrupting me as he opened his mouth. "You are supposed to be band from this house, and they might tell Charlie that you were here. Heck, for all I know these people could be bringing Charlie with them, and I don't want an argument with my dad the second I see him again." I could see that my words were having an effect on Edward, that they were working, I almost let out a sigh of relief.

"You're right, of course." He said before glancing at the clock on the wall. "You better start getting ready Bella." Edward said and I fought the urge to flip him off. Instead I smiled vaguely and nodded, he kissed my forehead and picked up his car keys from the table. "I'll be back to pick you up in an hour." Again I just nodded, not quite trusting myself to speak, I was just too angry.

As soon as Edward left I went to grab myself a shower, sighing as I did. I knew that a big decision was on my horizon; whether to stay with Edward or to leave. I had once thought that Edward was my life, but now... Now he just seemed to want to control my life. I had always been an independent person for as long as I could remember, and to have someone constantly monitoring me and telling what to do, well it was just too much for me.

When would I make this decision? Soon, I knew that much, very soon. I couldn't live this way anymore.

Climbing out of the shower I wrapped a towel round myself and headed back to my room. Hanging on my bedroom door, just where I'd left it, was the dress that I'd picked out four weeks ago. A week before the Cullen's had returned. I wasn't normally a dress person, much preferring jeans and a hoodie, but I'd fallen in love with this as soon as I'd set eyes on it. It was knee-length, black, with a low neck line, it was figure hugging with tiny black beads along the neck line. It was beautiful. I was going to team it with some black strappy sandles that had a small kitten heel. Perfect.

When I entered my bedroom I noticed a big box had been placed on my bed, one that I defiantly hadn't left there. Was the vampire creeping around while I was in the shower now?

I opened the box, taking one look at the contents before throwing it across the room in anger. That was it, I'd had it now!

"Stupid f'in vampire! Wear this! Eat that! What is the dress I picked out too damn dangerous now?!" I was getting out a pretty good rant, marching around my small room while I did, when Alice appeared at my window; a sad expression on her beautiful face.

"I'm sorry Bella. I told him not to do this, I tried to warn him. I told him to let you wear whatever you wanted to. But of course he was too stubborn to listen." Alice looked like she would cry if she could. "Promise me you'll still see the rest of us. Please. I've seen that they'll understand, they won't be angry, and no matter what Bella, to us you'll always be family."

Alice's speech sent a lump to my throat which I hastily swallowed. I guess that I'd made my decision after all then, well that wasn't going to make graduation awkward at all.

Alice's face glazed over for a split second. "No, do it after graduation, that would be best." She told me after she came out of her vision. Her voice was still downcast and broken, but she came over to me anyway before wrapping me in a gentle hug. I let a few tears escape while I was in my best girl friends stony embrace.

When we broke apart Alice gave me a small smile that didn't reach her eyes before heading back to the window. "He'll be here in twenty five minutes, so you better get ready." She then broke into a true smile which lit up her face like always; "you'll look beautiful in the black Bella."

"Thank you Alice." I whispered and she was gone.

I finished getting ready, shedding a few more tears for the family that I was sure I was going to lose. I was truly going to be alone after this afternoon. My family weren't going to want anything to do with me anymore, I hadn't heard from Renée and Phil in years, and Charlie was still missing. Today really sucked, that was for sure.

Twenty five minutes later and I was ready, not a second too soon either, as soon as I'd put down my mascara wand down someone knocked at the door. Five guesses as to who it was.

I went down to answer the door, my heart beating frantically as I did, I knew I had to calm my pulse down somehow, Edward would hear it and know something was wrong. And I was not a good enough liar to bull my way through a made up excuse.

As I opened the door to let Edward in, his face tightened and a muscle in his jaw seemed to spasm. "What happened to the present that I left for you Bella?" He asked me, his teeth gritted together as he spoke through them.

"It was lovely, thank you, but I wanted to wear the dress that I'd picked." I said telling him the truth, the blue dress that he'd got me was nice, conservative, but nice none the less.

"Don't you think that one is a bit revealing love? After all this is a formal event."

I looked down at myself, there was nothing indecent on display, I didn't have much of a cleavage anyway and the bottom half of my legs weren't what I'd call revealing. And it wasn't exactly like I was wearing silver spandex, as far as I was concerned this dress was fine. Where as the dress that Edward had wanted me to wear looked as though it would be better suited for a middle aged cop to wear.

I gritted my teeth as well. "No I do not think that it is too revealing at all Edward." I took a deep breath, it would all be over in a couple of hours. "Edward, let's not fight please. Anyway we've got to go or we'll be late. And this is _my _first time graduating."

Edward pinched the bridge of his nose again. Letting out a deep breath that he didn't need he looked at me, his eyes still tight. "Ok Bella, but we will be speaking when this is over." Yes Edward, we will.

We climbed into Edwards car, he wouldn't let me take my truck of course, I turned the music up so we couldn't speak. I almost groaned as the sound filled the small space; classical as always. I liked a few classical songs, but I couldn't listen to it as Edward did. While Edward had been gone I'd got into a different type of classic music, classic rock that I found when going through some of my dads music. But of course Edward didn't like me listening to it now.

The one good thing about riding with Edward was the speed at which he drove; it got us there fast.

Despite Edwards driving we were still a little late so there was no time for us to talk before we had to take our place in the line, for which I was immensely grateful.

Time seemed to speed up after that and before I knew it we were all throwing our caps into the air. I was officially a graduate of Forks High School. The victory was a hollow one though as Charlie wasn't here to share it with me.

I wanted to stand and talk to my friends as they all stood congratulating one another, smiling and laughing together. I wanted nothing more than to be a part of that, a normal teenage girl for once. However my vampire boyfriend (soon to be ex boyfriend) had different plans for me. Taking hold of my wrist in his chilly hand he towed me back to his car.

I spent the short journey back to my house pshycing myself up for what I knew I had to do.

We parked up outside of my house and Edward killed the engine. Sighing he turned to me in his seat. "Ok Bella..."

I took a deep breath while he was speaking before interrupting. "Edward, I don't want to be with you any more." I honestly thought he was going to kill me at that moment. His eyes turned almost completely black, only the slightest bit of molten gold remained. His hands formed fists and he showed his glistening teeth as he spoke through them.

"You don't know what you're saying Bella."

That was so the wrong thing to say, my anger flared right back up. "Yes I do Edward! I know what I am doing, what I want to wear, what I want to eat, listen to and who I want to fucking see! And I do not want to be with you any more!"

If seven months ago you'd have told me that I'd be doing this I'd have pointed you to the nearest asylum. But I'd had enough, I'd reached my breaking point and I knew, without a doubt, that I was doing the right thing.

Edward looked at me, shock the main feature on his in-humanly beautiful face. "This just proves that it isn't you talking Bella! Cursing, that isn't you!"

I took a deep breath trying to calm my temper slightly. "No, that's how far you've pushed me Edward. This is me talking, I do not want to be with you anymore. That's it, we're through!"

He took my face in his hands and I thought for a second that he might actually kill me, just snap my neck right there and then. Instead he looked deep into my eyes and whispered to me. "Please Bella, please don't do this to me." At one point in my life this heart felt plea, his beautiful eyes would have won me over, he would have dazzled me. But now his once stunning eyes were black sending a shiver down my spine, I knew that black equalled bad.

So even though I once would have buckled I was now strong enough to break away, I was comfortable enough in myself to break away. Backing away from his hands I whispered; "I'm sorry Edward but my decisions made. We're through."

I left the car and went into my house, half expecting Edward to come after me. Leaning my back against the door that I'd just closed behind me I heard my ex boyfriend drive away, too fast as always.

I slid down to the floor, the relief I felt at that moment was over whelming. Relief at finally being free and still being alive.

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**The next chapter will be going up in the next few mins, so no big wait :) Hopefully you'll join me for it,**

**Tametiger x**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guys, hopefully you all enjoyed the first chapter, here's the next :) I own nothing, not supernatural and not twilight, they may be a little different if i did :) **

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_Chapter Two_

_Lies _

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing the things that I wanted to. I played online poker, ate junk food, listened to Black Sabbath at stupidly loud volumes, danced like a loon. Anything and everything that I'd wanted to do in the last couple of weeks but hadn't been allowed to I did. It was an amazing feeling, it felt like being free.

As the time passed, despite eating a mound of crap, I grew hungry. Looking through the cupboards for food I started to worry again. The food was running drastically low and so were the funds that Charlie had left me. I could probably go get another load of grocery's before I was completely out of money. That wasn't what worried me however, what did was that Charlie had left me, and it didn't look like he was coming home anytime soon.

What was I going to do without him? Where was he? Was he alright? I was really working myself into a proper panic when someone knocked at the door, making me jump like it had been a gunshot.

I walked to the door and glanced through the looking glass. Two men I didn't recognise stood there. I figured that these must be Dean and John, the guys who had come to help me. I opened the door with a smile on my face to welcome them. As soon as the door was open I realised my mistake. These men, they certainly weren't friends of my dads, of that I was positive. For one thing they had black eyes. Completely black, unlike Edwards had been earlier, even the whites of these guys eyes were black.

Taking this in quickly, I tried to shut the door on them, but it was too late, they'd already started to make their way inside. I backed away from them, going into the front room, they followed me step for step.

"What do you want?" I asked, my voice surprisingly still strong. My mind was running through all the self-defence that I knew, which wasn't much, and I didn't think that it would work on these guys anyway for some reason. They weren't vampires I was pretty sure, but they weren't human either and I didn't think that I stood a chance against them with my meager fighting skills.

One of the things, whatever they were, raised it's hand as though swatting a fly and I went soaring through the air as if someone had picked me up and thrown me. I landed heavily next to the sideboard on the other side of the room. It hurt like hell.

The second black-eyed man started walking over to me. I got shakily to my feet, I was not prepared to lay at his feet weak and helpless as he did whatever it was that he was going to do.

I vaguely heard the front door opening again, and men's voices calling out. But I was too busy to answer at that moment.

The guy closest to me went to punch me with a smile on his face as he did, sadistic much? I saw it coming and dodged it. As I moved I kicked the man in the stomach sending him sprawling onto the rug in the middle of the room. I have no idea how I did that at all, it seemed the self-defence classes that Charlie had made me take must have instilled some sort of instinct in me after all.

I braced myself for the guys next attack, realising that I probably wouldn't be so lucky this time round. My heart was beating almost painfully hard and my mind seemed sharper than normal as the adrenaline rushed around my body. But as soon as the guy got to the edge of the rug he stopped, looking shocked and then annoyed.

Confused I looked at the other man, the one that had somehow telepathically thrown me across the room. He was stood with two good looking men in front of him, pinned mid way up the wall by nothing other than his mind it seemed.

Oh no! These must have been the actual guys that had come to help me, and here I was dragging them into my supernatural, craptastic life. Nice way to say thanks Bella! I had to think fast. How could I help? I looked wildly round the room for a weapon when I saw the other man that was apparently stuck on the rug. Ok, maybe if I got supernatural freak number two on the rug he'd be stuck too? I don't know how or why, but it was the only thing I could think of that might possibly help at all.

I made a quick plan in my head to get the freak onto said rug, it was an awful plan, seriously, but it might work, it might help to save the two men that were trying to help me. And it was the only plan I had.

Positioning myself carefully I called out to the black-eyed man. "Hey!"

One of the men pinned to the wall looked at me with fear in his eyes. "No, don't, you don't know..." He was quickly silenced by the black-eyed thing who waved a hand that somehow pushed my would be saviour further into the wall.

I wanted to, needed to, save these two men. "Hey!" I yelled again, trying to get the whatever to focus on me. "Hey Mr. What do you want? Why are you here?" I shouted, panic that I was feeling coming through loud and clear in my voice.

It did work though, black eyes started to advance on me again, an evil looking smile on it's face. "Isabella... Well aren't you the pretty little thing." The freak said to me, how the hell did it know my name? I turned slightly, making black eyes turn too. His back now against the sofa, just where I wanted it. I executed my plan with no hope of it working what so ever. I did a forward kick, pushing the guy with my foot as hard as I could in the chest. It sent the thing backwards over the sofa and onto the rug. I was shocked that it had worked, shocked yet pleased, I kind of wanted to punch the air and yell 'yeah'! But maybe later.

I heard two loud thuds and saw that the men who had previously been pinned to the wall had fallen to the floor.

The two black-eyed things were still on the rug, seemingly stuck on it, both of them glaring at me. I really needed to figure out what the heck was going on. What was I going to tell these two guys? What was I going to do with the black-eyed men? I sure didn't want to let them go, I had a feeling that it wouldn't be a smart idea.

"So... You must be Isabella then?" Said one of the guys. He was tall, really tall with dark long shaggy brown hair. And I could tell that he was muscled even under the t-shirt and shirt combo he was wearing. He had kind eyes and a soft soothing voice that seemed to calm me, even in the middle of this craziness.

"Bella." I corrected him, my voice defiantly not coming out strong now, instead I sounded weak and frail. "Are you Charlie's friends?" I asked, hoping that if I skirted round the two black eyed elephants in the room they might too. That seemed unlikely somehow.

"Yeah, kind of. I'm Sam and that's my brother Dean." He told me pointing to the other man, Dean, who was currently picking himself up off the floor. He was slightly shorter than Sam but still very tall. He had short brown hair, he was also fairly muscular I could tell and he had the most amazing pair of green eyes I had ever seen.

Dean shot a quick 'hey' at me before walking over to black eyes one and two. Reaching the rug he pulled up the corner to reveal some kind of weird red graffiti under it. What the hell?

Dean turned to his brother, they shared a look between them before Dean stated "Key of Soloman." He then turned to face me. "Well looks like the old man trained you well, what you need our help for then?"

"What's a key of... Whatever. Trained me to do what exactly? Do you know what's going on? Because if you do, would you mind filling me in please?!" The helplessness and confusion, not to mention panic that I was feeling was starting to come through in my voice. But I needed to find out what was going on and I had a feeling these guys might be able to shed some light for me.

The brothers shared a look again, well that was getting old fast. "You take care of it dude, I'll talk to Bella." Dean told Sam after a minute of silent communication.

Sam's eyes widened, he looked more than a little bit shocked. "You sure man?"

"Yeah I'm sure. Just do your geeky latin thing, I'll go have the truth is out there moment with the woman."

"Jerk!" Sam said while trying not to smile.

"Bitch!" Dean replied with a full on smirk.

I could tell that wasn't a new thing that they did with each other.

Dean put a hand on the small of my back and guided me into the kitchen, closing the door behind us. I could faintly hear Sam saying something in the living room but I tried to tune it out as I turned to face Dean. Hopefully I was about to get some answers.

~0~

I sat myself down at one of the kitchen chairs, wincing as I did. Being thrown across the room really made you ache. I didn't think that I'd seriously hurt myself; in fact experience led me to believe that I'd just bruised my ribs. Nothing serious but it was going to hurt for a few days.

Dean was helping himself to something in the fridge as I quickly assessed myself. As I came to the realisation that it would be better to tape my ribs up completely to help with the whole moving thing, Dean slammed three beers down on the table. Taking the top off one of them and sitting down he surveyed me over the top of the rim.

I'd never had alcohol before, but I thought if ever the time called for it, it was now. Taking the top off one of the remaining beers I took a small sip, it was refreshing and bubbly, going down surprisingly well after the day that I'd had.

Dean popped his half empty bottle back on the table and leant forward in his chair, his muscular forearms resting on his knees. I had a feeling that he was looking for something as his eyes bored into my own. I don't know if he found what he was looking for but he sighed and opened his mouth.

"Okay then, guess me and Sammy owe you a thank you." He began in a deep voice.

"You're welcome." I remembered my manners. "But I'd rather have an explanation if its all the same." I said calmly, taking another sip of my beer. I eyed him warily; was he going to avoid my questions like Edward had initially done when we first met?

"Charlie didn't want you to know about what he does, what we do. He wanted to keep you safe." I took this information in. Charlie knew something? No. He couldn't have done, but I'd address that later, there were more pressing issues right now.

"Charlie's missing and he asked me to ring your dad. He obviously wants me to know something, and as for keeping me safe..." I motioned with my hand towards the front room where those two things and Sam still were. I then let out a nervous chuckle before drinking some more of my beer. I hadn't really been safe since I'd moved to this tiny backwater town two years ago.

"Yeah, that's why I'm gonna tell you." He sighed again. "This may sound crazy-"

I interrupted his little speech, like he had done with me when I'd rang yesterday. "Believe me, I'm good with crazy."

Deans eyebrows rose as though in disbelief, so I decided to tell him a little of the crazy that I was dealing with at the moment.

"There are two men in my front room, with very black eyes, that are seemingly trapped by a rug. Apparently they aren't actually human and apparently my father knows all about that." I took another sip of my beer. "I'm going to assume that most people by now would be trying to reason that they were either on drugs, having a really bad dream or that you had personally done all this." Dean nodded at that with a smirk on his face. "I just want to know what they are and how the hell you guys kill them or whatever, especially as you seem to be just two regular humans." His eyes widened at me again, it was kind of fun to shock him, I didn't think that it happened very often. "Like I said I'm good with crazy."

He nodded at me after a second, but it looked as though it was more for himself rather than for me. Picking up his beer and finishing it in one mouthful he looked me over, and I felt the familiar blush colour my cheeks. Not now Bella, pull yourself together! Mentally shaking myself I stared right back at him.

"Ok then Bella. Those two fugly guys in there are demons." Demons, as in from hell demons? Hmmm... I suppose it was kind of stupid of me to assume that werewolves and vampires were the only mythological creatures that existed. I motioned with my hand for him to continue. "Most things that your told as a child don't exist, actually do. Things that go bump in the night are real." He carried on in a cool voice. "Ghosts, Ghouls, Demons, Werewolves, Shape shifters; they're real. Your dad, my brother and me, we're among the few people who actually know the truth, and kill the evil sons of bitches."

Ok, this was starting to get strange, even for me. Before I questioned there and my dads role in all of this and my sanity, there was one question that I was dying to ask.

"How do you kill a ghost?" I mean ghosts were already dead, how did you kill them?

Dean looked gob smacked at my question, I wonder what he'd expected me to ask? He'd probably thought that I'd sit there and tell them to get the hell out of my house or something.

"Ok... Well, you fend them off with salt, preferably rock salt but anything will do, and iron, pure iron. That's while you find there remains, when you've got the remains you salt then burn them." Ok well sounded like killing a ghost wasn't all that difficult after all then. You know, if it went to plan like that anyway.

"Look, I believe you, about all the crazy." Kind of hard not too when my ex-boyfriend was a vampire. "But I'm sorry, my dad, I don't know what you've heard, he doesn't know anything about this stuff." He couldn't do, otherwise he'd have know about Jacob and the Cull... Oh crap! That was why Charlie didn't want them around anymore, or me anywhere near them, he knew that there was something wrong with them!

"How else do you explain the key of Solomon under the rug?" Dean questioned me, startling me out of my epiphany. I gave the guy one quick nod, letting him know that I'd finally caught on, before draining the rest of my beer.

Dean looked at me before getting up and fetching the last two of Charlie's beers from the fridge, passing one to me as he sat back down. I gladly accepted, it was going down well.

"Ok so down to business then." Dean said apparently cutting to the chase. "Charlie's missing." I nodded, my eyes watering slightly, what if one of the supernatural things I was just told actually existed had got to him? What the hell was I going to do? How would I get him back?

Dean leant further forward in his chair and took one of my hands in his. It was large, warm and calloused, from the work he did I guessed. It was the exact opposite of Edwards. It felt nice, like it was right, nothing unnatural, or supernatural about it.

"We will get your dad back Bella." Dean said to me sincerely looking me in the eyes, and I couldn't look away from his brilliant green eyes. Ok, I needed to snap out of this. I nodded to him not quiet trusting my voice at the moment but for some reason trusting this man, even though I'd only just met him.

"Ok." He leant back again, picking up his beer, I missed the warmth that his hand had created. "So when did Charlie leave then?"

"Last Monday." I told him in a quiet voice.

"Did he tell you where he was going?" I looked at Dean incredulously, did he really think I would have rang a complete stranger for help if I'd known where my dad was heading? And even if he had told me, I was gonna guess that he wouldn't have told me truth going by all the stuff that I'd just found out about him.

"Stupid question I guess." You think?

"Can I see the letter that Charlie left you?"

"You can, but I don't think it's going to help much." I said pulling the letter out from my jeans pocket where I'd put it when I'd changed earlier.

Dean took the letter and read the three short sentences, then brushed a hand through his short spiky hair. "Yup, you're right, doesn't help much at all." Sighing Dean stood up; "can we take a look around, he may have left something to tell us where he went?"

If these guys were just going to do what I did, then what was the point in me ringing them?

"I've already checked for maps, co-ordinates, anything, but hey you're welcome to look." I said not wanting to come across as rude.

"You sure that Charlie didn't train you?" Dean asked me with a smirk on his face.

"Pretty sure, yeah." I answered sarcastically, if my dad had trained me or whatever, I'm sure that I'd have been able to find him on my own. "What is training anyway?" I may have been being a little dense but after the day I'd just had I think that I could have been forgiven.

"Well someone's got to teach you how to do this stuff or you end up pretty dead, pretty quick." That made sense I guess.

"Where did ya find the letter?" Dean asked me, a thoughtful look on his face.

"My dads room why?"

"That's where we'll start looking then." He picked up his beer and the unopened one from the table before starting to walk to the door. I stood to follow, grabbing my own beer, but the pain in my ribs made me gasp for a second. Yeah, I'd have to strap that the first chance I got. I got a small pang as I realised that I could no longer pop over to Carlisle to do this kind of thing for me.

Dean spun to face me with concern plastered on his face. "You ok Bella?"

I smiled at him nervously, I didn't want to admit that I was in pain, sure that he wouldn't let me do anything if I did, that he'd be like Edward was. Unfortunately though I couldn't think of a lie quick enough. "Just a bruised rib or two, I've had worse." He looked me over critically, my blush returning, before he nodded and carried on into the hallway.

"Sammy!" Dean yelled into the seemingly empty house.

A second later and Sam walked through the front door, sweat dripping down his face and mud coating his lower half.

Sam looked at Dean, regret plastered on his dirty face, he muttered "they didn't make it" to his brother. Deans eyes seemed to tighten at those words but he didn't say anything, just passed the unopened beer to his brother. Sam drained half the bottle in one swallow and offered Dean a small smile that even I could recognise as 'thank you'.

Sam then turned to me and asked me in a soft comforting voice; "how are you holding up Bella?"

Before I could reply Dean spoke up. "Dude, she didn't even bat an eyelid. First thing she asked me? How to kill a ghost!" Dean sounded a little excited as he spoke, these guys were a little strange at times.

Sam's eyebrows shot up on hearing this, Dean nodded in response. "Yeah dude, I know!" He added.

I frowned at the conversation, I was fed up of being talked about like I wasn't there, especially when they were making it sound like I was a freak.

"Still here ya know!" I said my frown still on my face. "How was I suppose to act after what I'd just seen? Even _my _dreams aren't that messed up!"

Sam smiled brightly at me. "Normally we'd get some version of get out of my house, you two are insane." I had to chuckle at that, I guess that if had I been even remotely normal, that's how I'd have acted. But I had never been normal.

I just shrugged in response. "I told you that I was good with crazy." I stepped towards the stairs and looked over my shoulder as I started walking up them. "Well come on then, let's try and find out where the heck Charlie is." Both of the guys exchanged smiles before following me up the stairs and into Charlie's room.

"Where abouts did ya find the letter?" Sam asked as his eyes quickly took in the bland room.

"On the bed." I motioned towards the bed with my hand.

As soon as the words were out of my mouth the guys moved further into the room. Sam went and looked under the bed, but Dean went straight for the padlocked closet. Jiggiling the lock he turned to look at Sam who had come out from under the bed, dust coating his already dirty trousers. "Dude, you got the...?"

"Yeah, of course." Replied Sam taking a small bag out of his pocket and throwning it to Dean who caught it expertly. Dean then pulled a small metal tool out of the bag and went back to the lock. Seconds later and Dean had the padlock off, a smirk lighting his handsome face. "Hell yeah I'm good!" He congratulated himself.

I couldn't stand back in silence and watch this any longer. "So you're breaking into the Chief of Police's personal property? Don't you think that may get you into some trouble?"

Sam turned to face me with a sad looking smile on his face. "Charlie was the one to show us the quickest way to do that Bella." Oh, right. I really didn't know my dad at all did I?

Dean opened the door to the closet. For the first time in a very long time - if ever- I think I may have gone into shock.

The closet, wasn't a closet at all, it was another room, a small room but a room none the less. From where I was stood I could see rows and rows of shelves crammed with things, as well as a desk and chair.

There were scraps of paper, maps, pictures and newspaper clippings pinned up on every available piece of wall. I walked to the room, my mouth hanging open and my breath coming slightly quicker. There were weapons, lots and lots of weapons, not just guns, but knives and swords too. There were machines that looked homemade, some very small and some bigger than my arm. Also decorating the shelves was religious parifinalia; rosary beads, holy water, crosses, stars of David. On the very same shelves were things that looked like they were occult items, with symbols that I'd never even seen before.

"Yatzee!" Came Deans voice from behind me startling me out of my shock, I turned to him, what now? He was holding up a leather bound book that looked like a diary. I recognised it instantly, it was Charlie's journal, he never went anywhere without it, so why had he left it behind? I was starting to think that I could use another drink.

I started to leave the room, looking only at the floor so that I didn't see anymore. It wasn't that I wasn't interested, cause I really was, I couldn't wait to have a proper look around, especially at the books that my dad had, but I didn't think that I could take anymore just yet. My head was already spinning a little.

I noticed that there was a circle on the floor full of weird looking markings, like the one that was down stairs, another key of Soloman. I guess that staring at the floor wasn't the best idea either.

Instead I looked straight out of the door, only to catch sight of the back of the hidden rooms door. What I saw made me stop dead.

"Bella?" I heard my name being called from what seemed like a very long way away.

All I could focus on were the scraps of paper and the pictures that were stuck to the back of the door. They were all about 'Cold Ones' and all of the Quileietes ancient lores. To the sides were photos of all the Cullens and some of tha pack too; Jacob, Sam and Embry.

Dad knew? He knew, that's why I was on lock down! He didn't want me near any of the supernatural creatures that Forks was over run with.

"Bella!" My name came from next to me, I turned, still numb, and saw two pairs of eyes looking at me with concern.

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**I hope you all liked the chapters so far, hopefully I'll be updating this time next week. If you liked this, even if you didn't please review I want to know what people are thinking :D Until next time, **

**Tamtiger x**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who's favourited, and followed this story, but an extra huge thankyou to everyone who's reviewed, they made me write more so that you could have this next chapter! **

**I own nothing from either Twilight or Supernatural.**

**I need to give a little bit of a warning for this chapter, it gets a lil dark towards the end. There is a small scene of sexual violence. Consider yourselves warned. Hope you enjoy it! :)**

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Chapter Three

Truth

"Bella!" My name came from next to me, I turned and saw two pairs of eyes looking at me with concern.

"Yeah?" I answered, only able to muster up a whisper.

"Come on." Said Dean guiding me gently out of my fathers secret room.

He took me back down to the kitchen and gently pushed me back into the chair that I'd been sat in earlier. After giving me a hard look for a moment he left the room, left me to my own thoughts. I heard him and Sam speaking in low tones in the hallway. Minutes later the front door banged letting me know that it had closed and Sam came into the kitchen, sitting himself down in the chair opposite mine.

"You ok?" He asked me softly, his eyes wide with concern and sincerity.

"Not really. Everything I've ever thought that I've known about my dad, it's all been a lie." I answered completely honestly, my mind a whirl with all the new information that I'd taken in.

"Bella?"

"Yeah?"

He took a deep breath and I could tell that he didn't really want to say what he was about to. "Do you know those... People? The Cullens and the Quilites?" Ah, this may be slightly awkward, what did I tell this guy? I didn't really feel comfortable telling him everything. I'm sure that these guys were great people but I'd still just met them. I decided on a small portion of the truth.

"Yeah, I know them." The truth, but short and to the point, not giving too much away there. He couldn't read too much into that surely?

"Did you know... Err..." Sam ran his fingers through his long brown hair, reminding me for a very brief moment of Edward.

"That the Cullens are vampires and that the Quilities are werewolves?" I couldn't help the smirk that crossed my face at the look of disbelief that Sam gave me as I said that so matter of factly.

"Yeah, that." He said weakly.

"Yes, I know." I came back, completely un-nessecarily, a small grim smile still in place.

"Guess that's why you took everything today so well then." I nodded, yeah, that was defiantly a huge factor.

"Bella, you need to know hunters, like Dean, your dad and me, we kill the supernatural."

I interrupted his little speech. "Your brother already beat you to _the talk _Sam, sorry." I smiled at him, letting him know that I was only kidding.

He gave me a weak imitation of a smile back. "Yeah, I know. What I'm trying to say is that we kill vampires and shape shifters."

I got what he meant, and my body immideatly froze in place, panic shot through me. "No! No you can't kill the Cullens! Yeah they're supernatural, but they don't kill people, they're not evil!." I was almost shouting in my worked up state. "They eat animals, so you can't hurt them! I won't let you!"

"Ok Bella, calm down." Sam told me raising his hands like he was facing an armed man, his voice again in that gentle and calming tone.

"Where's Dean? Where's he gone?!" I couldn't stop the panic, had Dean set out to hunt down my friends and murder them already? I stood up, wanting to go and stop him, knowing that I couldn't do anything really, I was still me, weak helpless Bella, but I had to try!

"Bella! Calm down! He's just gone to get us some food and drink, apparently you're running low." Sam said his voice slightly harder now as he nodded pointedly towards my almost empty fridge.

"You can't kill them." I said sitting back down, slightly more sane now.

"Look, we'll talk about this. If they're really not hurting people then we won't kill them." Sam looked thoughtful for a second. "One of them isn't called Lenore by any chance?" He asked me making me frown in confusion. Lenore? What was he on about?

"No." I said back bluntly, still extremely confused. "Who's Lenore?"

"She and her coven, we met them once, they were only feeding off of animals too." Sam told me before finishing his beer.

"Did you kill them?" I asked the only thing that mattered right then to me. The safety of my friends.

"No, we only kill the things that are hurting humans. That are making the world the crap place it is." Sam said looking a bit down. He took a deep breath and seemed to compose himself slightly. "So you know all about what we do. What do you do Bella? When your not hanging out with werewolves, vampires and demons of course." Sam grinned, letting me know that he was teasing me.

"I've just graduated, guess I've gotta work out the whole life plan thing." I said with a shrug. That was a pressing question now though, what was I going to do? I'd blown the college thing, what with not enough money and all that jazz. But no career really appealed to me. I wanted to help people, but obviously being a doctor was out of the question - all that blood, ugh! And joining up with the police in sleepy little Forks didn't appeal much either. But I wanted to do something worth while, make a difference in the world.

"What did you major in?" Sam asked me making me frown, what? Then it hit me, he thought I was in college. Must have looked older than I realised.

"Actually, I just graduated high school. About three hours ago now." I told Sam matter of factly. Sam's eyebrows shot up and I couldn't help but chuckle, this whole surprising people thing was fun, and it made people look almost comical.

"Hey, do me a favour." Sam asked after he'd composed himself.

"Go on." I said wearily. Not committing to anything till I knew what it was.

"Don't tell Dean that you just finished High School." Sam said with a smirk that mirrored his brothers, a twinkle in his eye.

"Ok... Why?" I asked, I'd keep the promise, it seemed fairly innocent enough, but I wasn't entirely sure why I was doing it. And I liked to know why I was lying to people before I did it.

"Erm.." Sam flushed a little then said quickly; "cause he'll feel bad for giving you those beers." He was lying to me, but I wasn't entirely sure why, didn't matter though. I'd play along.

I heard the front door open and I tensed, hoping beyond hope that it was either my dad or Dean. I didn't want any other visitors.

The kitchen door swung open and Dean came sauntering in with a couple of grocery bags. I instantly relaxed. I was safe, for now anyway.

Deans eyes instantly darted to his brother then to me. "How ya doing now Bella?" He asked me as he put the grocery's in the middle of the table. His eyes not leaving me, as though looking for a tell, however I had a brilliant poker face now.

"I'm good now, just taking in that my dad's lied to me my entire life. Ya know?" I said lightly, a hint of a shadow passed over both of the brothers faces at that. Something had once happened there, something that had scarred. But I didn't ask, it wasn't my place, besides somehow I didn't think they'd share with a girl that they'd just met somehow.

"Ok, well this will help." Dean said bringing out a bottle of Scotch from one of the bags.

Beer was fine, it was nice, it helped a little with all this madness. However I didn't think that whiskey was a good idea. I'd never been drunk before, and getting wasted in front of two strangers, two male strangers at that was probably a really, really bad idea.

I'd never known what was good for me though. I got up with a wince before going to the cupboard and getting three glasses.

"Maybe that isn't such a good idea." Sam said shooting me a glance.

"Whiskey, it's good for shock dude. And it helps me work." Dean said with a smirk while pulling out my dad's journal from a pocket in his jacket. He set the journal down and started flicking through it.

I poured three very generous glasses of the hard liquor before joining the brothers at my table. "So what's the plan then? Where do you start looking?" I asked, eager to know what the guys were going to do.

I took my first sip of whiskey from the glass. It tasted okay, kind of spicy, but okay, well that was until I swallowed it, then it burnt a fire as it passed down to my stomach. I coughed slightly as it burnt but relished the feeling. It meant that I was alive, that someone was here with me, helping me and taking care of me for once. Talking to me, not down to me. Not trying to shelter me from everything.

Dean looked at me with a smirk on his face, where as Sam just raised his eyebrows and shook his head at me softly. Hey! He was the one who told me not to let on that I was only nineteen, so he couldn't be complaining that I was drinking like I was older. Besides I thought that perhaps the drink would help.

"Well Bella, first we go through Charlie's journal, see if we can figure out where he was heading or what he's hunting." Dean told me before going back to the journal, his beautiful brow furrowed as he tried to decifer my dad's chicken scratch. I needed to sort myself out. Beautiful? What was I on about? Maybe the drink was taking hold already?

"What if you don't find anything in there?" I asked with genuine interest. I wanted to know how you went about finding someone who had apparently dropped off the map altogether? I took another sip of my whiskey, feeling lighter and warmer already.

"Already on it." Sam said after sharing a look with Dean, he stood up with his drink in hand before leaving the room. Seconds later I heard heavy footsteps on the stairs.

"Where's Sam going?" I asked Dean slightly confused.

"Sam's going to plan B." Dean said simply, not looking up from the journal.

I sighed heavily, was a straight, well thought out, concise answer too much to ask for? "So what's plan B then?"

"Check your dads secret study, see if any of the maps are recent, see if any of the newspaper cuttings are from the last month or so. Anything that might give us a clue." Dean replied, his voice sounding like he was getting a little annoyed with my questions now. Well tough, I deserved to know!

I took a couple more sips of my drink, finishing off the glass and pouring myself another before I spoke again. The alcohol making my head feel a heck of a lot lighter, and me a heck of a lot more confident than I normally would be. "So what's the deal with you two? How did you get into this? Come to think of it how did my dad get into this kind of thing?" I asked staring into my glass. What would make a person risk there life daily? See all the crap that I'd seen under duress and I was guessing a damn sight worse than that as well.

"Bella, if you want me to find your dad you're going to let me have to concentrate." Dean said his hand rubbing the back of his neck. His eyes inches from the journal.

That was fine with me, wasn't like I was burning up with questions anyway, not like I'd been lonely for the last two weeks either. Wasn't like I was worried, and scared and upset. I was use to my own company, I'd just go be alone again.

I stood and headed for my room, an idea forming in my head, not before topping up my glass though. Why hadn't I thought of it before? It was obvious now.

I went to my room and switched on my old, slow computer. Finishing my glass of whiskey just as the slow connection finally brought up the search engine that I'd wanted.

I spent an hour trying to work out how to do what I wanted to before I hit pay load. "Yatzee!" I said to myself, repeating what Dean had said earlier.

I got, slightly un-steadily to my feet and headed back downstairs where Dean and Sam were both sat at the kitchen table. Dean was still looking through Charlie's journal, and Sam was sifting through papers.

"I got something." I said to them both as I walked in to the room.

"B, what did I say about concentration?" Dean asked me, something slightly off with his voice. I looked to the bottle of whiskey, it was empty, I guessed that what was wrong with the guys voice. He was drunk.

"B?" Sam questioned with a smirk at his brother, his eyes slightly un-focused, making me sure that he was also a little drunk.

"Well D, I've found something I thought could be useful." I said back, my voice dripping with scorn.

"What you got Bells?" Sam asked me, his voice kinder than his brothers.

"Bells?" Dean questioned with a small smirk of his own. Sam and I both ignored him.

"I tracked down Charlie's cruiser." I announced slightly proud of myself. Though also slightly ashamed that I hadn't thought of it sooner.

That caught both of the guys attention. "How?" Sam asked making for the paper in my hand which I gladly handed over.

"All police cars have a tracker in them, I just activated it." I said, I pointed to the map that I'd printed out. "That's where the cruiser was last, but it either hasn't moved, or the trackers been switched off since Tuesday." I told Sam, the day that I was suppose to have rang John.

"Where is it?" Dean asked standing and walking to look at the map over Sam's shoulder.

"Boston." Sam answered before sifting back through the papers.

Dean went to get a laptop from a bag that had been brought into the kitchen at one point or other. Probably when I'd been in my room.

"So, what now?" I asked taking a seat on the counter and watching the brothers. They were very intense, very tense, very focused, I wondered if it was always like this when they were working. Or if it was just because they knew my dad, and that made it personal.

"Now we find out what your dad was hunting." Sam told me absently.

"Hunting? I thought that my dad was killing something big, bad and evil." I thought his cover story was just hunting.

"It's what we call it. Hunting. And we're hunters." Dean told me, glancing very briefly at me before going back to his work. "There's more beer in the fridge if ya want." I did want and helped myself. If I didn't be careful I'd be full on drunk instead of in my tipsy state, but what the heck, might as well enjoy having company and beer while the brothers were here, cause I wouldn't be having either as soon as they'd skipped town and were looking for Charlie.

I twisted the top off my beer and took a sip, still watching the brothers with interest. "When will you head out then?" I asked, wanting to know when I'd be alone. Wanting to know, how long it would be before I could be expecting real news on Charlie.

"We'll head out first thing tomorrow, you might want to pack a bag now." Sam said not looking at me.

"Why?" I asked confused, did they want me to make them a pack-up for the road or something?

"Cause your coming with us." Sam said matter of factly.

"I am?" I asked at the same time that Dean said "she is?"

"Yeah." Sam answered simply.

"Erm... Dude? She's not coming with us. She'll be dead weight, she'll get in the way. No offence." Dean said to me with a shrug.

"None taken." I replied, I agreed with him though, I couldn't go, I'd only get in the way, there was nothing that I could do to help. And while I wanted to make sure that Charlie was ok, I knew that the best way to make sure that he was ok was to make sure that the professionals handled this. And I was not a professional.

"Man, we can't just let her stay here alone and unprotected. There's demons after her." Sam said, making a compelling argument.

"Then we'll set up some wards, basic defences, basic demon training, then Charlie will be back and she'll be safe. There now that's sorted I think I've got something." Dean said going back to the laptop.

Sam sighed but went along with Dean, apparently that was sorted I wasn't going to be tagging along. I blew out a sigh of relief. I didn't want to get in the way, I wanted Charlie back safe and sound, and that meant me staying put.

"What you got then?" Sam asked Dean.

"Seven girls missing, teenagers, all between the ages of fourteen and nineteen." Dean said in a business voice. Apparently they were use to that kind of thing. I wasn't though, my mouth hung open. Kids... Missing. That was just disturbing, I was going to have nightmares about that one for a while I was sure. Those poor girls, they must be terrified and their families? What must they be going through? I didn't think I wanted to know.

"Hey Bella? Maybe you should get some shut eye, you look bushed. We'll wake ya before we head out." Dean said looking me over and breaking me from my tortured thoughts. I vaguely nodded feeling shaky. Those poor girls, their poor families, I just hoped they were still alive and still ok, that they weren't going through too much.

~0~

I woke suddenly, confused, something had happened, something important but in my sleepy state that I couldn't figure out what.

Someone moved in the hall, sounded like someone was coming out of the bathroom. Charlie!? I jumped up excited, he was back, he was ok. I walked out of my room and stopped dead. Yeah it wasn't Charlie.

Instead it was a six foot tall, handsome man in just a towel. It all came rushing back to me then. What had happened, Dean and Sam and the demons. And it seemed as though Dean had taken a shower which is what had woke me.

He was stood looking at me, his eyes shocked as he took me in. I was doing the same thing though. The towel was small, showing off his muscled, toned legs, and his stunning six pack, his amazing arms and his tussled still wet hair. He was hot.

"Sorry if I woke ya." He said in a quite deep voice that sent shivers down my spine. He then started walking back towards the stairs, giving me a wonderful view of his ass. It was a nice ass. "Nice nightgown by the way." He shot over his shoulders, his eyebrows raising and his eyes giving me another once over.

I flushed slightly. "Thanks, nice towel." I gave back as good as I got. Our eyes meeting for a brief second my face erupting in a bright red blush, before he looked away and walked back down the stairs.

Flushed and my heart beating wildly I walked back into my room. Blushing deeper as I saw what I'd put on to sleep in. A baby pink nightgown that Alice had picked for me a while back. It was short and low-cut, and figure hugging too. Yeah I'd given Dean almost as much of a show as he'd given me.

I flopped back down on the bed, my skin feeling hotter, my heart still beating hard and fast. I closed my eyes and waited for sleep to find me again. My thoughts full of sexy men in towels with brilliant green eyes and a perfect six pack.

_His hands glided along my bare skin, his touch making small whimpers of pleasure escape my lips. My hand touched the tatoo above his heart, his skin was warm, smooth and hard with muscle. _

_His lips found mine silencing my whimpers with his skillful tongue. _

_His massive calloused hand glided gently from my knee upwards, steadily upwards till he hit the place that I wanted him. I gasped out loud. _

I woke from the first dream that I'd ever had like that with a jump. Someone was in my room next to the window. I knew from his shape and size who the silloute was.

"Edward? What are you doing here?" I asked pulling the covers even more tightly to my chest. My heart sped up, why was he here? What did he want? I didn't think that this was going to be any good.

"So that's why you left me? That's what you've wanted all along. It's my fault really. I should have given it to you when you asked me to." Edward started walking towards me, his voice soft but somehow menacing. I really didn't know what the hell that he wanted from me, but I did know I didn't want him there.

I put my light on and sat up with the covers still round me. "Edward you can't be here. Get out please." My voice shook a little.

"Love, I can't leave you. Not now I know what you really want."

"What are you talking about? I don't want anything from you. Edward get out of here!" I said, trying to level my voice and make it harder, but it didn't work.

"I can smell it Bella, I can smell your arousal. You want it. You want me." Edward said climbing onto my bed. Instinctively I backed away from the vampire.

What the hell? He could smell my dream? That was really, really creepy. And it wasn't him that I'd been dreaming about.

"Edward get out of here! I don't want you!" I said my voice stronger now.

"I don't believe it, like I said, I can smell you love." He inhaled deeply. "And you smell amazing. I want to taste you, to feel you, to have your smell on my skin." His hand crept up my leg and I held back a shiver of revulsion.

"Edward I mean it, leave me alone." I tried to back away but his hand held me in place, his grip unbreakable.

His hand drifted further up my leg as he climbed on top of me. "God your beautiful Bella, I should never have denied you." He told me in his velvet voice. His free hand drifting down from my collar bone.

"Edward stop!" I pleaded trying to squirm away from my ex, but it was no use, he was just too damn strong.

He started kissing my neck, his hand now roughly groping my breast. My mouth filled with bile and I struggled not to vomit. His hand went from over the top of my nightgown to under it, his fingers gently manipulating my nipple. His cold hand making them stand on end.

"Stop please!" I begged again trying to get through to him. I knew it was no use as he started stroking me through my panties. I felt his erection pushing against my leg. This was it he was going to r... I couldn't even think it. Sobs started shaking my body as with a flick of his wrist he tore my pants from my body.

"You don't mean that love." Edward told me kissing a line down to the breast that he didn't have in his hand.

Panic tore through me as my begging did nothing to stop the vampire, my struggles useless and pathetic against his strength. He pushed my thighs apart with his hand before swiftly inserting a finger inside me.

"No!" I cried out in a shout, my body rigid as sobs tore through me, I was terrified. I couldn't believe a man who claimed to love me was doing this to me.

The door burst open at the same time that the window broke as someone crashed through it.

"Bella!" Shouted out a voice from the door as a white figure streaked to the bed and tore Edward off me before throwing him bodily out of the window, or the hole where the window use to be.

A furious growl tore through the air as Emmett dived after Edward, his eyes flashing black and wild.

As soon as the vampires were gone I felt arms wrap around me and lifting me up. The arms carried me quickly but gently down the stairs. I felt safer in those arms. But I wasn't safe. I'd never be safe again. I was tainted.

I finally went numb, shock, real shock taking over my body making me shut down. I couldn't move even if I'd wanted to. I was terrified, I was petrified, and I hurt like hell. But not now, now I felt nothing. I heard words as though they were coming from a long, long way away.

"Bella!"

"Bella!"

"Dean I think she's in shock."

"Well done. Now go pack her a bag."

"I thought you said."

"Now Sammy!"

"It's ok Bella, me and Sam we're gonna take you away from here, away from him. We're gonna make sure that nothing happens to you. Don't worry, we'll keep you safe sweetheart." The words were all said in hard but sad voices.

"I got it. What about the...?"

"We'll deal with it when Bella's away from here."

"Dean..."

"Get our shit together Sam, we're leaving."

With that I was being wrapped in something. A leather jacket I thought from the smell. I was then lifted back up and carried outside to a car. I was put in the back-seat, the jacket was pulled even tighter round my shoulders, warming in the cold night air.

Doors slammed around me, and voices too low to hear spoke. But I was numb to it all.

"Boston?" A voice asked another voice, both of them in the front seats again.

"Boston." The other one agreed, his voice hard and tight. "How ya doing Bella?" The same voice asked in a gentle tone.

I didn't answer, I couldn't. Nothing would work.

The car rumbled to life under me, seeming to rock me gently, it's seat seeming to be a safe place, a safe warm place that would take me far away. Low music poured from the speakers wrapping me gently in it's embrace. Slowly I was rocked to sleep tears still casscading down my cheeks but I was safe inside the rumbling car.

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**If you liked, or if you didn't then review please, let me know what you thought! I'll get the next chapter out after I've finished Help for the Hunted, so shouldn't be too long :) **

**Until next time; Tametiger xxx**


	4. Chapter 4

**The response to this fic has been so amazing that I'm posting two new chaps tonight despite my promise from last week, thank you for all the reviews they make me write faster! Hope you enjoy this new chapter! **

**I own nothing from either supernatural or Twilight, not even Dean - sob**

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Chapter Four

Hunt

"Bella, wake up. You're safe now." A deep warm voice cut through the terrible nightmare that had plagued me. My eyes shot open to reveal Dean in front of me, his eyes bloodshot and concerned. Sam was in the front seat fast asleep. I was huddled under a huge brown leather jacket, still with my baby pink nightgown on.

"Hey, you ok?" Dean asked me still in a gentle voice.

"Yeah, just a bad nightmare. Sorry." I said in a whisper, my voice hoarse and my eyes feeling swollen, I'd obviously cried a lot through my nightmare. I sat up, making sure that the jacket covered me as I did. Pain rolled through my body as I sat. My ribs ached, my breasts throbbed and there was a sharp pain down there. Down where there shouldn't have been a pain. It hadn't been a nightmare. That had really happened, Edward had really... Hurt me.

"It's cool, stopped me from falling asleep at the wheel anyway." Dean said with a smirk, though looking at the bags under his eyes I wasn't so sure he was joking. I looked out of the window, we were on the side of a pitch black road, the only light were tiny pinpricks in the distance that I thought might be a small town.

"You want me to drive to town." I pointed at the lights ahead. "Get a motel or something?" I asked.

"Nope. We'll crash the night here." Dean said to me yawning as he did.

"I'm not tired anymore, I can drive. Get us there faster?" I offered, I wanted to be doing something, not just sat in the back of a car with two snoring men, thinking about what had just happened with Edward or worrying about Charlie.

Dean studied me for a minute or two. "Sure. Drive us to the nearest motel then sweetheart, we'll get a room. Wake up sasquash though, I don't want you two awake all night while I'm passed out. I'll wake up to have my nails painted or something." Dean tried to smile at me.

I went to climb out of the car and winced. God that hurt. And I still hadn't taped up my stupid ribs, I'd have to do that when we stopped. "You ok B?" Dean asked me with concern. His eyes raking me slowly.

"I'll be fine." I said quietly, trying to smile while I did. Slightly worried that the man that I barely knew would stop me from doing anything like the Cullens would have. If I'd been in this state in front of them I wouldn't have even been allowed to walk to the toilet on my own.

"Bella..." He rubbed the back of his hair and looked to the floor. He then sighed and looked back into my eyes. "Did he...? Ah... What happened?"

My heart sped up and my mouth dried out, I felt a little dizzy and tears sprung up in my eyes. Terrified even thinking about what had happened back in my bedroom at home. "He er... He tried to..."

"Did he?" Deans voice was harder now, less awkward, at least he wasn't stupid and asked me what Edward had tried to do.

"Not entirely." That was all I was gonna say now. That was all I was sharing.

Deans eyes flashed and his jaw clenched together so hard that it was actually audible. He almost looked frightening, but when you'd befriended a coven of vampires it was difficult to be scared by a hard look that wasn't even directed at you.

"Thanks." I said in a quiet voice while looking at my entwined hands rather than the man in front of me.

"For what?" Dean said his voice softer now but confused, his eyes still had a very hard edge to them though.

"For taking me away, for not leaving me alone. I don't think... Anyway, whatever, thanks." I didn't feel comfortable having this conversation, and Dean didn't look comfortable having it either.

"Yeah well, you never know, you might actually come in handy." Dean said with an attempt at the smirk he'd given earlier. It failed this time.

"Hey look, before I start driving, is there anyway that I could have my bag?" I asked.

"Er... I guess." Dean said looking confused again.

"I don't really wanna wear this anymore." I said gesturing to the jacket and nightgown combo that really wasn't doing me any favours.

"Well, I'm liking the whole look but sure." Dean climbed out of the car and headed to the trunk of the car. He came back a second later with a bag that I'd never seen before. A pink bag no less. I'd never owned a pink bag, not even when I'd been small. I only had a pink nightgown because Alice had brought me one and forced me to keep it.

"Dean, that's not my bag." I stated to the man.

"Well it sure as hell aint mine, I prefer lilac myself. Anyway it's the one Sammy brought down for you, said it was already packed and everything." Dean said looking at the bag with confusion.

"Oh crap." I had a very bad feeling about this. I took the bag from Dean and opened it up. Sure enough inside was a note on top of a wedge of money.

_Bella,_

_I'm so, so sorry. Words can't tell you. He's gone, we won't be seeing him again, and I'll make sure that he doesn't ever come near you again Bella. _

_We love you. _

_I don't know why but you'll be needing what I packed for you. Be careful. _

_You have my number, anytime you need anything call me. Please. Emmett asked that you call him when you could as well. _

_I love you like my sister Bella, we all do. _

_Alice x_

"Oh jeeze!" I said before routing through the bag. Inside, besides the very large amount of money, was a pile of clothes that I'd never normally wear, some suits, a hell of a lot of shoes. What surprised me most of all though was the silver knife and the gun that were stowed at the bottom of my bag. I felt a little dizzy again. Why the heck would I need a gun or a knife? I would be staying in the motel, well away from any action what so ever.

"Is your dad a secret millionaire or something B?" Dean asked me incredulously, his eyes almost popping out at the sight of all the cash stowed away in the pink bag.

"Or something." I muttered routing around till I came across some clothes that I could actually stomach. A pair of jeans and a black tank top. Dean was still looking wide-eyed at my bag as I got my clothes out.

"You hanging round for a peep show?" I asked the man a little more heatedly than I meant to, more touchy than I'd normally be.

He raised his eyebrows at me and I was sure that some smart remark was going to come out of his perfect mouth when something crossed his face. It looked like pain or realisation. Or something. I don't know. I didn't know him well enough to be interpreting strange looks yet. Yet? What was I thinking, I'd be with these guys as long as it took me to get my dad and drive home, definitely not long enough to get to know them well enough to learn their facial expressions and what they meant.

"I'll go stand in the cold then sweetheart don't you worry about me." He said trying again for a smirk, but again failing.

A few minutes later and I was dressed and climbing into the driver's seat of the pretty, sleek black car, as Dean took my place in the back seat.

We drove in silence for so long that I'd thought he'd fallen asleep. But after a while he spoke. "That guy?" He asked his voice very gentle and very tentative.

"What about him?" I asked, wishing beyond belief that I wasn't having this conversation, but he'd told me the truth when he didn't have too. And he'd looked after me when he didn't need too. As well as that he was letting me tag along to find my dad. I owed these men and this seemed to be a small price to pay.

"You knew him?" It was half statement half question. He was digging without trying too hard. Got to give the man points for that.

"Yeah, he was my boyfriend. I broke up with him this afternoon." I said, my voice trying very hard to be strong.

"I can see why." Dean spat, his voice holding venom. After a few more minutes of silence Dean once again broke it. "Was he one of the Cullens?"

"Yeah."

"You dated a vampire!? That's hardcore. Hang on, you banged a vamp and you're still here to tell the tale! Dude that's wicked!" Dean actually sounded excited for a second. I raised my eyebrows and looked at him through the rear view mirror.

"I didn't." I said hoping he got what I meant from that, the traitorous blush giving me away again.

"How long were you together?" Dean asked me, actually looking interested in the answer.

"Five, six months." I answered, surprised that it had only really been that long. The break that we'd had and the intensity of the relationship made it seem like a hell of a lot longer. That and I was miserable through a lot of the time.

"Longer than any of my relationships by about five or six months though." Dean chuckled.

"How come?" I asked surprised. I mean it was no secret that the man was a hottie. And he was kind, I'd already seen that for myself, not to mention a real life hero, saving the day, rescuing the helpless damsels and killing the monsters. Girls should be beating down his door.

"We're never in one place long enough. That and I like the ladies." I saw in the mirror that he'd raised his eyebrows suggestively.

I got his meaning straight away, a small blush creeping onto my face that he wouldn't be able to see in the dark thankfully. "Okay, gotcha Charlie Sheen." I replied making him frown at me. I chuckled, I'd seen the way him and Sam ribbed each other, he could take it.

"That's just harsh. I'm so much hotter than Charlie Sheen." Dean pouted making me laugh harder and a weird feeling leap in my chest.

"Anyway what about you. Other than the vamp, what's your history?" Dean asked me, leaning forward. I frowned, I so didn't want to go into this again.

"Hey aren't you suppose to be getting some shut eye? You look beat." I unconsciously mimicked the brothers language.

"Nah I'll wait for a real life bed for once. Might get more than a couple of hours then." He looked at me again, obviously waiting for an answer from me.

"I'd never really had a relationship before that. Never really wanted one before that." Deans face held scepticism and surprise when I said that. But it was the truth.

"So what is it that you do then?" Dean asked me leaning back in his seat again. "You know besides hanging with vamps, shifters and demons?" Dean mimicked what his brother had said so perfectly that my mouth almost literally dropped open.

"Are you and Sam twins or something?" I asked stunned, that would explain the weird mind link thing though. And the strange silent conversations.

"What, no! Sam's my little brother, like four years younger little. Why? Cause gigantor there looks slightly different to me." Dean said.

"Sorry." I felt the need to apologise, as he'd obviously taken offence at my innocent statement. "It's just you said almost exactly what Sam said earlier that's all."

"Sam you sly dog." Dean said in a very low voice that I obviously wasn't suppose to hear. But after hanging around with supernatural creatures for so long your hearing improved, it had to or you'd never hear anything. Or you'd never hear anything creeping up on you.

"Anyway, what about you?" I asked, ignoring what he'd said completely. I didn't think I wanted to know what that was about.

"You know what we do. We're hunters." Dean said.

"Yeah, but what's your second job? Like Charlie's chief of police, what else do you do?" I asked as I saw the lights getting brighter ahead, signalling that we were finally reaching our destination. For the night anyway.

"Nothing. Your old man, he's a part-timer. A weekend hunter if you like. Me and Sammy, we live and breathe this stuff." Dean told me with a troubled smile. It didn't look healthy that was for sure.

"What do you do for money then?" I asked confused, I didn't think that hunting paid well somehow. "And where do you live?" They couldn't just live on the road surely?

"We live here." Ok maybe they could just live on the road. "And we play poker, pool. Credit card fraud is also very lucrative." Dean smirked at me, obviously watching me for signs of discomfort.

I thought about it for a moment. Yeah sure, credit card fraud and hustling people for their hard-earned money was wrong. Not to mention illegal. But... Well, they saved people's lives. That must wipe out the bad stuff, surely? I didn't know, I'd have to wait for that question to come round again before I jumped on it.

"Anyway you never answered me, what do you do?" Dean looked again like he was actually interested in the answer. I was curious though. What kind of career would people think I had? Maybe that might help me in deciding my life plan?

"Guess." I said playfully.

"Ok... Er... Kinder garden teacher?" Dean guessed with a twinkle in his eye.

"Try again."

"Trainee cop?"

"Nope."

"You're at college?"

"Close but no cigar." I was enjoying this a little, but I really didn't want any of these careers.

"Ok I give, just tell me."

"I just graduated. Today actually." I said trying to smile. I can't believe that it had only been a few hours ago that I had been collecting my diploma. And now here I was on the road with two men looking for my dad, who apparently was mixed up hunting down supernatural creatures. Not even I believed this really, it seemed more like a twisted dream than someone's reality.

"What a way to spend the night then. Shouldn't you have been at some party? Not driving around backwater towns with two strangers." Dean asked me frowning slightly.

"Maybe... But what's the fun in being a regular girl?" I said half bitterly. I'd never been normal, but recently I'd been wishing for it. Or at least wishing I could have something close to it anyway. Although I could have just been wishing Edward away?

We carried on in silence for a few minutes as we entered a tiny little town.

"B, make a u turn, you've just missed the motel." Dean said suddenly making me jump. I'd been in my own world, trying to figure out what I wanted from life.

"Sorry." I muttered quickly pulling the manoeuvre in the tight street and heading back the way we had come, I had to find out what this car was, it handled so well. I spotted the motel myself this time as it came up. It looked like a block of cabins, like the ones summer camps used. It was imaginatively named 'The Rest Stop', and it looked disgusting. I didn't think I'd have dared venture in had I been alone. I looked like the kind of place where you could get rooms by the hour.

Still Sam should be sleeping in a bed, not up against a window in a car. And Dean would pass out soon if he didn't get a bed I was pretty sure. I guess this place it'd have to be.

"You check us in B, I'll wake sleeping beauty." Dean said while motioning to Sam as I stopped in the car park. I really didn't want to go in there alone, but I had a feeling that checking us into a motel would probably be one of the least scary things that I'd have to do for a while.

I got out of the car grabbing my bag as I did. "Hang on sweetheart, you'll be needing this." Dean said while passing me something over the roof of the car. I took it and looked down. A credit card, for a Mr. D. Smith.

"Here, I've got it." I said passing the card back, the least I could do was pay for a couple of rooms for the night. "Dean Smith." I smiled at Dean. It wasn't what I was expecting. I think that I'd thought the brothers last name would be something more racy, more exciting, though I wasn't sure what exactly. Maybe Power or Diesel. I'd watched too many action movies.

"Actually it's Winchester." Dean corrected me with a smirk taking back his card. Ah, it was one of his fraudulent credit cards. But Winchester seemed to fit the brothers a damn sight better than Smith had.

I went to the reception on my own, feeling a little more nervous than I wanted to. The light flickered in the window constantly from no vacancy to vacancy, the purple bulb giving me a headache after just a few seconds of watching it. The outside of the office was decorated with old white-painted boards, that looked as though the last time they'd been painted was when the place had been built; some time in the fifties I'd have guessed by the state of them.

I walked into the office to find a middle aged balding man with glasses and thin, dirty facial hair sat behind the battered dark MDF desk.

"Yeah?" The man grunted at me.

"Er, yeah, hi. Can I get three rooms for the night please?" I asked the guy who was staring at me like I was dressed as the Easter Bunny.

"Sure lady. How many to a room." The guy was looking at me now in a way that made my skin crawl.

"Just one to each." I replied, was it common place to ask that kind of question at a motel? I didn't know, I'd only ever stayed in one and Renée had booked us into that one.

"That'll be one hundred and fifty bucks then." The guy told me. I handed over the money and accepted the keys with a forced smile before turning on my heels and almost running out of the office. That guy had freaked me out a bit, I'll admit.

"Hey!" I said with relief as I almost collided with the Winchesters who were waiting for me outside of the reception, their bags in hand.

"You ok Bella?" Sam asked me with a small frown looking from me to the reception shrewdly. I obviously had to work harder at hiding when I was freaked out.

"Yeah I'm good." I replied while trying to force a smile that just wouldn't come. "Here." I said to change the subject handing each of the brothers a key. They looked at the keys and frowned before looking at each other and then me.

"B..." Dean started saying still with his frown in place.

"Thanks." Sam cut over his brother while giving the older man an elbow to the ribs, which he obviously thought was stealthily done. It wasn't.

"What?" I asked. What had I done wrong?

"Well..." Dean started saying while still looking at his key like it was something slightly revolting to him.

Sam however once again cut over him. "Nothing, right Dean." Ok, Sam was awful at hiding things. How had he done a job that was so secretive for so long without giving away the trade secrets?

"Just tell me, you might as well tell me now otherwise I'll just do it again next time." I told the brothers. Though I was hoping that this little road trip would be short enough so that there wouldn't be a next time.

Dean and Sam looked at each other, having another one of their silent conversations that were starting to get really annoying.

"We normally get one room between us." Dean blurted out, not looking fazed to be telling me that I'd screwed up their normal routine, Sam however was looking at his brother like he was an idiot.

"How come?" I asked, interested to know all about their alien lifestyle. The lifestyle that my dad led on the side.

"Easier, cheaper." Dean commented with a shrug.

Sam however gave it slightly more thought before answering me. "If something happens, then we're together, we've got back up. We can work together easier when it comes to the donkey work. Ya know researching a hunt. Plus like he said it's cheaper." The younger man gave me an endearing smile.

"Oh, sorry, I'll er... Take the keys back and get one room." I said a little bit embarrassed, I suppose that it was easy to see why they only got one room when Sam put it like that.

"Oh no you don't B. A whole night on my own, no snoring, no bitching, a full nights sleep." Dean clutched the key tighter to his chest. "That's what I call heaven." He winked at me.

"Yeah, cause you're such an easy room-mate too Dean. Mr shoot first and ask questions later." Sam smirked at his older brother.

"Hey, that's saved your ass and you know it."

"Yeah and it's also scared a few cats and killed a spider, dude." Sam quipped right back. Yeah it was easy to see that these guys were brothers.

We made our way to the rooms that were thankfully all situated together, the brothers bickering in a funny easy going nature that had me laughing the whole way. These guys were defiantly a tonic.

"Five in the morning?" Sam asked a question. I guessed that it was probably what time to leave in the morning. That seemed a tad early though especially as it was now half past two.

"Dude I want more than two and a half hours!" Dean argued apparently on the same side as me.

Sam sighed and looked slightly annoyed. "Fine six thirty, but that's it, we're on a job remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. Night Sammy, night B." Dean said opening this door and shutting it behind him before either of us could reply.

"Jerk." Sam muttered before looking at me. "See ya in the morning Bella."

"Yeah, night Sam." I smiled a small smile before walking into my room. It was small, dirty and smelly. The walls were a light beige colour that showed every scuff mark and stain, the same with the carpet. The cover on the bed was a gone off gray, white colour that I assumed was actually supposed to be white. There was an old television on top of a rickety stand opposite the bed and a door off the room that I guessed would be the bathroom. Other than a battered night stand next to the bed that was about it for the room.

I couldn't believe as I laid my bag at the bottom of the bed that Sam and Dean lived in places like this. It couldn't be a great lifestyle. Very few home comforts.

I laid on the hard lumpy bed fully dressed, there was no way that I was getting undressed in this room. As I looked at the stain ridden ceiling I contemplated my life.

It didn't look good right now I had to admit. I was travelling with two huge men who happened to be complete strangers, they seemed nice enough but they were still strangers, my dad was still missing, I was alone in the world, I had no plan now that I'd graduated, all the money that I had was in my bag and it wasn't going to last indefinitely, but I had no way of getting anymore, well not unless I started working somewhere, but considering what I was doing now that looked unlikely. And I was laid in a tiny, filthy room in the middle of nowhere, with a handful of clothes and not much else. Yeah. Life wasn't looking so great right now.

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**Poor Bella, she feels all alone, I'm sure Sam and Dean will make her feel better soon though! :) Please review and let me know what you think, the next chapter will be up in a few mins :) xxx**


	5. Chapter 5

**As promised the second chapter tonight, hope you're all enjoying it so far. I own nothing. **

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Chapter Five

The Open Road

I couldn't sleep that night. I knew I should, knew I should at least try, tomorrow was going to be a long day if I didn't. But sleep just wouldn't come. Every time I closed my eyes images of what had happened with Edward assaulted me, making my eyes snap back open, my heart accelerate and tears glide down my cheeks. And if I wasn't thinking about that then images of some unknown evil thing attacking Charlie plagued me.

So wide awake I stayed. After a couple of hours of enduring my own mental torture I couldn't take it anymore. I sat up on the hard, filthy bed and switched on the tv. Hoping to numb my thoughts with some rubbish or other. I wished that Alice had thought to pack me a book or two.

I settled finally for watching some crap movie. I knew it was crap by the way I didn't recognise any of the actors and the explosions were done by computers. Still at least it took my mind off of more unpleasant things.

It was light when the movie finished and tele-shopping began. I wasn't that much of an insomniac to start watching that just yet. I stood and stretched. Today was gonna be one hell of a long day. My best bet was to see if I could get a cup of coffee somewhere, get a couple of shots of caffeine into my system, that was bound to keep me awake. And it almost felt like a bit of a two-fingered salute to Edward who would never have let me drink coffee.

So at five thirty in the morning I found myself wondering down the main street of a strange town looking for coffee. After five minutes I found a diner that was open with only one other patron.

The diner looked like a throw back to the fifties but it smelled delicious. "Hey hon, what can I get ya?" The old looking but friendly waitress said to me as I approached the counter.

"Hi." I smiled back, it was good to see that some people were still nice in this world. I quickly scanned the board realising that I was actually starving. "Erm... I'll have a coffee to go and... Er... What would you recommend?" I asked with another smile.

"How about some pancakes? They're good." The waitress asked me.

"Yeah that's good thanks. Three stacks to go." I'd be nice myself and get the brothers some breakfast too, and if they didn't like pancakes well then more for me.

Clutching my breakfast and sipping my coffee I made my way slowly back to the motel. The streets were still empty but they looked brighter now. More alive somehow. It filled me with a small sense of hope. Maybe today would be better? A good day?

As I approached my room I realised that something was wrong. My door was open. I'd locked it when I left, I had defiantly locked it. I was sure I had, I mean after all my things were in there. Oh crap! I was being robbed!

I reacted instinctively, and stupidly. I ran for my room, coffee and breakfast still in my hands. I pushed open the door to see two men still in my room. I went to open my mouth to scream while thinking of all the self-defence that I actually knew.

"There you are, where have you been!" Dean asked me as the brothers both turned to look at me. He sounded angry.

My heart started to leave my throat then. It was just the Winchesters, for some unknown reason they'd decided to break into my room.

"We were worried, are you ok?" Sam asked me kindly. A complete opposite to his brother who was glaring at me.

"Why did you break into my room?" I asked confused, at least I could talk now my heart wasn't blocking my vocal cords.

"Where did you go?!" Dean asked me still angrily and still glaring at me.

Sam glanced at him before looking back at me. "We knocked and you didn't answer so we got worried." Sam told me as though that explained why they'd picked the lock on my door. Though I guess in their world it did.

"I couldn't sleep so I got some breakfast." I said gesturing to the bags in my hand.

"Dude she got us breakfast!" Dean said, now completely over his anger apparently.

"I can see." Sam smiled at his older brother. "Just text us or leave a note next time you're gonna pull a Houdini ok?" The tall man said to me gently.

"Ok next time I decide that I'm hungry and want a coffee, you two guys will be the first to know. Happy?" I asked feeling a little angry myself. I'd only been gone twenty minutes, it wasn't like I'd been gone for days.

"Very. Thanks sweetheart." Dean smiled as he came and took the bags that I'd brought for breakfast off of me, his brilliant green eyes seeming to twinkle a little.

~0~

We'd been travelling for three hours since our eventful morning, and I'd managed to grab all of half an hours sleep in the back seat. Driving round the country was less boring than I'd thought it would be though. The guys put music on, my kind of music, they talked and joked, and I laughed. A natural sounding laugh not the forced one that I'd been using for so long that I hadn't even realised it was forced.

"How long till we get there?" I badgered the men as we passed through another town that I'd never heard of before. And I was pretty good at geography.

Sam sighed at that while giving me a frown in the rear view mirror. What? I'd just wanted to know how long it would take, thinking that maybe I'd pick up a magazine when we next stopped for gas or something.

"Do not start with that 'are we there yet' shit Bella. Otherwise you'll be hitch-hiking the rest of the way!" Dean warned me sounding annoyed. Ok, guess that was why Sam had shot me the frown.

"Sorry." I mumbled.

"Here, read that." Dean said passing something over his shoulder to me. I took it and studied it. It was my dad's journal.

"Dean..." Sam said, it sounded like a warning.

"What? Charlie's her dad Sam, and she's coming with us. Don't you think she should know?" The men were speaking about me like I wasn't there. I decided to listen rather than get angry. There was no point, these two could argue circles round me anyway.

"Charlie didn't want her to..."

"And what about when dad didn't want you to know Sammy, how did you take that? Don't you think that you should give B the same treatment that you wanted?" Dean said persuasively. I no idea what they were talking about but I knew it was persuasive when Sam didn't argue back. Instead he just sighed and sat back in his seat.

Now that it looked like Sam wasn't going to rip the journal out of my hands I focused back on it. This journal had been apart of my life forever, I'd seen Charlie with it since I could remember. He carried it around with him all the time, sometimes sitting and jotting stuff down in it, other times reading it with a frown on his face. Despite it always being there, always being present I'd never read it. Never even touched it. It was the one thing I'd been forbidden to do, and I'd respected that. So it was with a sense of deep unease as well as reckless excitement that for the first time in my life I opened the navy book.

The first page was a journal entry, like any I'd expect. It was a month after I was born. The month that my Grandma had died, and apparently Charlie saw something fishy with the whole thing. That was news to me, I'd always thought that Grandma Swan had died of a heart attack.

I read with fascination after that. There were some journal entries like when Grandma Swan passed, when Charlie would write down his thoughts and emotions. When my mother left and took me with her for example. That was a hard entry to read, dad had been completely devastated. But Rene had thought that he had lost his marbles when he started hunting, said she didn't want me round him. Despite that Charlie had carried on hunting apparently. Other journal entries were usually on my birthday or Christmases that I'd spent with him or when I visited for the summer. Sometimes they made me smile, remembering events that I'd completely forgot. Other times I shed a tear for how lonely my father had sometimes been. How much he'd missed me and Renee in his life.

Then there were the other entries, the ones that told me more about the man I'd thought I'd known. These were normally less like journal entries than how to's of the weird and dangerous.

A lot of it didn't make any sense to me. Random numbers and words, some latin. Sometimes drawings that also meant nothing to me.

But some of them... Well, wow. Charlie had scribbled down an encounter with a Wendingo which apparently was once a human but had turned into a monster through cannibalism. His encounter with that both scared the heck out of me and fascinated me with equal measure.

There were also white women in there; women that had gone crazy when there partners had cheated on them and then killed their children before themselves. Shapshifters, werewolves, vampires, pagan gods, mythological creatures of all types and loads more that I'd never even heard of were in the journal. Charlie had met and killed them all apparently.

Not to mention the ghosts and demons, lots and lots of those.

But apparently Charlie specialised in things that went after children. Shriga's, Raw hides, particularly nasty vampires. He hated them with a vengeance and I could tell hunted them without mercy.

I don't know how long had passed since I started reading when something finally broke my concentration.

"BELLA!?" Dean shouted at the tops of his lungs making me wince and my ears ring.

I looked up startled. We had stopped, in a gas station and both brothers were sat watching me with smirks on their faces making blush a little. "Sorry, I got a bit distracted." I said while gesturing to the journal which still remained firmly in my grasp.

"Yeah we noticed." Sam smiled at me, at least they found the whole thing funny rather than annoying.

"You want anything to eat?" Dean asked me the question that he'd been trying to ask for a while now apparently.

"Er... Yeah sure, thanks." I said glancing down to make sure that I hadn't lost my page.

"Coffee?" Sam asked, I nodded at him with a smile.

"Right. Don't touch anything." Dean said to me as both him and Sam climbed out of the car and slammed the doors behind them.

I was already engrossed back in the journal before they'd even reached the door to the shop.

When passed food I ate, when passed drink I drank. But other than that for hours I was engrossed totally in Charlie's thoughts, memories and instructions.

Finally I finished and looked up to notice that the light had finally gone and that Sam was in the driver's seat, not Dean. Dean was sleeping in the same position that Sam had last night. He was bound to wake up with a sore neck. Maybe we should stop again for the night?

"Hey." I said softly to Sam, worried about making him jump.

"You've finally finished then?" Sam asked me in little more than a whisper with a kindly smile.

"Yeah, sorry about the whole checked out of it thing but when I'm engrossed in a really good book..." I trailed off, realising I was letting on just how geeky and bookish I was. Somehow I didn't think that went hand in hand with the hunter lifestyle.

"It's fine." Sam smiled again. "How you doing after reading that?" He asked me after a few minutes of silence, his voice was soft and comforting, as though he really cared. I did wonder though, he must meet people like me all the time, people in need, so surely he must act like he cared all the time. I wondered if over time, day after day, of pretending he cared if whether it just became part of the job? If he just started acting like that cause he thought he should. Maybe I was just being too cynical?

"Not bad considering, I don't think. Though I think I might be having nightmares about the bogey man for a while." I said with a forced smile.

"Charlie hunted the Bogey man!?" Sam asked me sounding amazed, a big smile stretching his face. Hunters were odd.

"Erm... I don't think so. I meant bogey man as a generalisation for all that scary stuff."

"Oh. Right. Yeah." Sam looked a little embarrassed now.

Something just occurred to me. "So hang on... The Bogey man's real?" Yup, I was so gonna need therapy at some point.

"Not sure. Probably not, but then again, who knows." Sam shrugged. Guess you found a lot of things that weren't suppose to be real but were doing what these guys did.

"What's the weirdest thing you've ever hunted?" I asked, wondering what other things there could possibly be.

"What do you mean, like Bogey man famous weird? Or Alice in Wonderland high weird?" Sam asked me with a smirk, his eyes not leaving the dark road.

"Er... Famous weird?" I wasn't sure I wanted to hear the other. And this all seemed like some opium induced dream to me anyway.

"We hunted this shapeshifter who turned himself into dracular. And a mummy, and a werewolf. The hammer horror classics." Sam said after a minute or two of thought. I felt shivers trail up my back. Yeah that was... Creepy.

"So what do you think it is that my dad's hunting? A shapeshifter or a werewolf or something?" I asked wanting to know what my dad was up against. And wanting to see if I could find it in his journal. Find out how to kill it. Although I didn't want to be within a mile radius of the thing I thought it would be a good idea to know the best way of putting it down, just in case. My track record for being a danger magnet still stuck after all.

"We won't know till we do a little digging. But it's not a werewolf." Sam assured me with confidence. "If it was a werewolf..." He glanced at me through the rear view mirror. "You sure you wanna know this?" He asked.

Nope, probably not. But I thought that I needed too, especially when you considered my best friend was a werewolf. "Yeah." I answered.

"If it was a werewolf there'd have been bodies by now. Hearts missing, and it would have fit the lunar cycle." Sam was so matter of fact about people having their hearts ripped out, about bodies being found. The job that these guys did, it must harden you to so much.

"Hang on werewolves, they don't rip out hearts, they don't hurt people. They kill vampires." That much I knew.

"Oh you mean those guys back in Forks right?" Sam asked me and I nodded leaning forward. Was he gonna tell me that I was wrong? Because I wasn't. "They're not werewolves, they're shapshifters. Well kind of. We call them skin walkers. They can turn into a specific animal at will. Wolves in their cases. If they were werewolves you'd have had a whole load of bodies on your hands, all on the full moon. Trust me." Ok... So... Ok. Guess it didn't change anything really. Just what I called the pack in my head.

We drove in silence for a while, I was trying to work out how Charlie and me were going to go on. I mean did we just pretend this never happened? Did he carry on hunting while I was at home, worried? I was trying to work out all of those tricky little details when something else occurred to me. Something that should have occurred to me a while back. But in my defence I had been in shock for a while.

"Sam?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Why were those demons trying to attack me?" I had no idea why they would want to attack me. The only thing that could possibly want to hurt me would be vampires. And even then I knew which ones and why. I hadn't done anything to annoy demons, or even show up on their radar.

"I don't know." Sam told me, but I heard something in his voice.

"You've got an idea though right?" I could tell he did.

"Maybe." Well he really didn't want to give anything away did they?

"You want to share with the class?" I asked lightly.

"Not yet." Right well that was helpful.

Again we lapsed back into silence. This time I was trying to figure out why demons would want anything to do with me. It hadn't been a random attack, they'd known my name. But I hadn't the slightest clue as to why or how. And it was starting to make my head hurt. All of this was.

"What college are you going to then?" Sam asked as though we'd been in the middle of a conversation.

Random, but I'd go along with it, at least it would take my mind off of everything else for a little while. "I'm not." I answered.

"What! Why? Didn't you apply?" Sam sounded as shocked as I'd felt for the last twenty-four hours.

"Yeah, I applied, to just about every college in the continental US." I said with scorn, remembering the nights that Edward had sat and made me fill in the applications, even though I hadn't wanted to. And the times that he'd filled some in for me too.

"You didn't get in?" Sam asked, his voice sympathetic now.

"Yeah, I got in to a few. Dartmoor, Columbia, Stanford." I listed the best three that I'd been excepted into. Though none of them had actually been a choice for me. I hadn't wanted to go to any of them. And now I didn't have that option anyway.

"You got in to an ivy league college and you aren't going? Why?" Sam had every right to be incredulous I guessed, most people would be.

"Mostly the whole money thing, I can't afford it and I didn't get a ride. But I don't really wanna go. I don't know what I wanna do, but I want to help people and college... That's just not for me. School it bored me, and I've looked at some college level stuff. It was, easy, too easy, I wouldn't be challenged, so not much point on wasting thousands on something that I wouldn't be interested in." I explained myself.

"You don't think that Stanford would challenge you?" Again Sam sounded incredulous.

"I looked into their AP biology, I finished a semesters worth of work in a week. No. I don't think I'd be challenged." In all honesty it had just bored me. No the challenge for me would be the real world, that place I didn't have a clue about. That place interested me.

Sam again glanced into the rear view mirror, his eye brows raised. "So what is going to challenge you then?" He asked, as though if Stanford couldn't then nothing could.

"I'm not sure. When I figure that one out I'll let you know." I answered, feeling worried again. I needed to figure my game plan out like yesterday.

Silence descended on the car once more. This time I was the one to break it. "Look I don't wanna get you mad or anything, but how long till we get to Boston." I was eager to find Charlie. I wanted to make sure that he was safe, I wanted to bring him home. I just wanted to find my dad.

"We should be there in half an hour or so. It would only have taken us eight hours but we had to go around, road works." Sam sighed as though it was a major problem. But then I guessed when you drove around the country it was a major problem. You didn't want to be trying to save someone's life and get held up by road works. That would suck.

"What happens when we get there?" I asked interested.

"We find a motel and get some sleep until morning. It's too late for house calls now." Sam answered me.

"And in the morning?" I pestered.

"Dean and me will look into the case. See if anyone's had any dealings with Charlie, see what angle he was taking, that'll help."

I understood one part of that. But the other? I was having trouble working it out, and I was normally good at figuring things out. "Ok, so then you find out what the hunt is. But how does that help with finding Charlie?"

"Hopefully he'll have left a bread crumb trail to follow." Sam explained to me. Yeah, I guess that did kind of make a sense, I think.

"What if...?" I didn't want to ask the question. I needed to ask it. But I didn't want the answer.

"Don't go there. Trust me." Sam replied, his voice harder, an edge to it now. I nodded, if the man said not to go there I wasn't going there. I didn't want to anyway.

Dean jumped awake then, as though he'd been having a nightmare and he'd broken free from it. I knew that feeling all too well. His face was clammy, I could see that even in the dark of the car, as though he'd been sweating. And his breathing was ever so slightly laboured. Yeah, I was pretty sure he'd been having a nightmare.

"Dude, where are we?" Dean asked Sam his voice full of fatigue.

"Just outside Boston." Sam answered.

"I'm starving. We got anything to eat?" Dean asked Sam while working out a crick in his neck. I was right, sleeping against a window did not make for a painless nights sleep.

I passed Dean half of a sandwich that I hadn't eaten earlier and had forgotten about till now.

"Thanks." Dean mumbled, before turning in his seat to face me quickly. "Oh, hey B." The man smirked at me. He'd forgotten that I was there, well that hurt my feelings.

"Hey D." I said back while rolling my eyes. How could you fight the good fight when you forgot things as big as me? Maybe I wasn't so much safer with these guys than on my own, like I'd thought.

Dean tuck a bite out of the sandwich then spat it back into the container, disgust evident on his face. That was the last time I tried to do something nice then.

"Ew, tuna!" Dean spluttered making Sam laugh out loud and me actually crack a smile. The guy was acting like a five-year old faced with broccoli.

"I'll stop at the next gas stop." Sam said as Dean opened his mouth, Dean just nodded with a small smile on his face. There it was again, that weird mind reading thing they had going on. And Dean had wondered why I thought they were twins!

"I miss anything?" Dean asked rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Nope, just filling Bells in on how we handle cases." Sam said looking in the mirror and shooting me a smile.

"And how did that go down? You wigging out on us back there yet sweetheart?" Dean asked me while turning in his seat again.

"Not likely." I said with another eye roll.

The car slowed down as we entered the borders of the city. We all looked out of the windows, looking for a motel or gas station. Either would be fine right now.

It took twenty minutes but we finally found a motel, and this one looked like the Ritz compared to 'The Rest Stop' from last night. But it had another oh so brilliant name. We'd be spending the night in the 'Sleep Easy' motel. Great.

"I'll go check us in." Dean said while shooting me a look. Again I rolled my eyes, I wasn't a mind reader, how was I supposed to have known to only get one room?

Sam and I climbed out of the car as well. It felt really good to stretch my legs after hours of being sat still.

I grabbed my bag from the trunk of the car as Sam grabbed his and Deans. We leant against the car as we waited for Dean to return. As we waited I scanned the car park. There were only two other cars in it. I guessed it wasn't high season then. One of the cars would probably belong to the person who was manning the desk. My money was on the silver rust bucket parked outside of the reception. The other was a cheap looking Ford in a light blue. A woman's car I could tell from the pink air freshener hanging off the mirror in the shape of a lipstick. Classy.

When I finished my scanning I looked up to see Sam watching me with an odd look on his face. "How come you were scoping the carpark Bells?" He asked me sounding thoughtful. I could tell that he didn't find it odd, rather that he was actually interested in my answer.

I shrugged, I'd always done it. "Just making sure I know my surroundings." I answered, I liked to know what was around me, who was around me. I'd thought it was normal until now.

Sam just nodded still looking thoughtful. Odd guys these two. Shame as they were both hot men.

Dean came back with a big shiny key in his hand soon after. We followed him to the room that we'd be staying in. Room thirteen. I didn't think hotels or motels had a room thirteen, bad luck or something. I was pretty sure that there were even some streets that didn't have a number thirteen on them. Wasn't it a little strange then that we'd been given room thirteen? Or maybe I was just reading too much into things again? I did tend to have an over active imagination after all.

I glanced at the brothers and knew it wasn't just my imagination by the looks they were exchanging with each other.

"Remind you of anything dude?" Dean asked his brother while looking serious.

"New Orléans." Sam muttered back his voice hard.

"What happened in New Orléans?" I asked, my voice quite.

"Satanists." Dean answered as though that should answer everything. Maybe it did in his world. I just nodded, knowing that I probably didn't want to hear it.

Hesitantly Dean unlocked the door and nodded to Sam. Together they edged into the room, their bodies tense. I went to follow but Dean shot me a wide eyed look before shaking his head.

I got it, I'd wait. I positioned myself so that I was half facing the door, half facing the car park. I didn't want anything sneaking up on us while we were concentrating on the room. My heart was beating rapidly. My muscles tense, already in fight or flight mode. I listened intently, wanting to be ready at the first sign of trouble. Though ready to do what I wasn't sure. Run probably. I wouldn't be much good at anything else.

"K, you can come in B!" Dean shouted from the room making me jump and my heart stop for a second. I let out a nervous chuckle at myself before grabbing the bags and dragging them into the room with me. What had the brothers packed, bricks?

I entered the room and looked around before shutting the door behind me. The room was ok I guessed. It was decorated in drab greens and yellows. Two queen beds took up the majority of the room, there was the apparently obligatory television set and a set of cupboards with a microwave on top, as well as the bathroom of course. Another small room, but this time it had to fit three of us in and the two guys took up most of the room themselves.

I noticed a small problem with the room. Just a teeny problem really. "Where am I gonna sleep?" I asked as I watched the brothers plonk themselves down on a bed each. Leaving me with the... Floor. Great.

"Well..." Dean started saying to me with raised eyebrows.

"Dude, no." Sam cut him off looking stern. Like I'd said before, those guys were odd.

"Not much other choice Sammy." Dean smirked at his little brother. Sam raised his eyebrows and suddenly the brothers were playing rock, paper, scissors.

It looked like Sam had won, but it was so fast that I could have been mistaken. "Looks like you're bunking with me tonight Bells." Sam said turning to me with a small kind smile. Maybe Dean had actually won then, I guessed it was over who got to have a bed all to themselves.

I flushed bright red, was it really such a good idea to be sharing a bed with a complete stranger? Well maybe not a complete stranger, but close enough. But then again my dad had obviously trusted them.

My fears were put to sleep when Sam moved one of the pillows to the bottom of the comfy looking bed. That made it a little better. Top and tailing. Less chance that anything would happen. Not that it would have even if. But well after the last few days could you blame me for my reasoning?

"I'll go get some grub." Dean announced getting up again and grabbing his keys that he'd put on the bedside table.

"I'm gonna grab a shower." Sam told us both before getting up and walking in to the bathroom.

"You fancy coming B?" Dean asked me from the door where he was watching me eye my dad's journal again.

"Yeah sure." I agreed. I was starving and I'd have been bored if I'd been left on my own again. Plus any chance that I got to learn more about the Winchesters, to get to know them better I should take right?

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**Hope you liked the chapters :) bit slow on the action but the next couple will rectify this I promise. Let me know what you think! I'll see ya next time;**

**Love always Tametiger x**


	6. Chapter 6

**The response to this story has been amazing so far! thank you so much to everyone who's taken the time to review, or even just favourite or follow this! it really does make me write quicker which is why you'll be getting another two chapters tonight! i hope you all enjoy them, as always i own nothing unfortunatly. hope you enjoy this weeks instalment! :)**

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Chapter Six

First Hunt

I didn't learn that much about Dean on our trip to get some food. Other than the man loved pie. Seriously loved pie. Loved pie like I loved reading. He needed help.

I did however learn a hell of a lot about Sam that night. Much more than I'd wanted to actually.

I talked in my sleep which must be annoying. But not as annoying as someone who thrashed around in their sleep, hugged my feet and liked to spread out. Not to mention the snoring.

After being pushed out of bed for the third time that night by Sam's humongus body, I gave up. I wasn't trying to get back in again this time. Dean was still laughing as I picked myself up off the floor again. As he'd done every time that I'd been unceremoniously dumped on to it. Now I understood why Sam called him a jerk.

I picked myself up off the floor and walked the foot that separated Dean's and Sam's beds before pulling the covers back and climbing in. "What do you think you're doing!?" Dean sounded half amused and half annoyed as I claimed some of his bed for my own.

"Trying to get more than five minutes sleep. And sleeping on the cold hard floor doesn't appeal much to me." I said grumpily, every bone in my body ached, a mixture of being so tired that I could cry and hitting the floor three times in an hour. "Please tell me you don't spread out like Sam there!" I added, my voice betraying just how tired I was.

"Nah your safe with me sweetheart, now go to sleep." Deans voice came from a lot closer than I expected, and I was suddenly very concious of his body that was so close to my own giving off a radiating warmth. I mentally berated myself for being ridiculous before closing my eyes and falling instantly asleep.

~0~

I was woken suddenly by the radio alarm clock blasting out the Eye of The Tiger and sat bolt upright in bed. I was muddled for half a second. Where was I? What was going on? Why wasn't I at home? Before I saw Sam and Dean both sat on Sam's bed eating breakfast in suits. Then it all came rushing back to me.

"Morning B!" Dean chirped at me, way too happy for this time in the morning if you asked me.

I grunted back an answer, I was not a morning person.

"Sleep well?" Dean asked me with a cocky smile, I narrowed my eyes first at him then at Sam. In truth I'd slept well, surprisingly well, normally I'd toss and turn, sleep talk and mutter, waking myself up a few times in the process. But last night I'd slept all the way through, a first for me in a very long time.

"Dean told me about what happened..." Sam said looking embarrassed about kicking me out of bed. Three times. "Sorry Bella." He muttered while trying for a smile.

"S'all right." I said with less of a scowl this time. It was obvious that the guy was mortified and hey, they were doing all this for me after all.

Dean climbed up off Sam's bed and plonked himself down next to me before passing me a coffee and a bag full of flapjacks. I smiled as I eagerly took the offered goods. "Breakfast in bed, that's what I call service." I said brightly after taking a sip of the still hot coffee, my mood perking up with the intake of caffeine.

"Don't get use to it!" Dean smirked at me.

I took a bite of one of the flapjacks before talking. It was delicious. "So what's the plan for today then?" I asked both brothers, eager to find out what they'd be doing.

"Dean and me will go talk to the police, see what they've got and see if Charlie's been snooping too. We'll also take his picture around a couple of motels, see if we can find his room. He may have left something there for us, if he's not there himself of course." Sam told me as though it were an obvious course of action. It may have been for those two but for me, not so much.

"Can you track Charlie's cruiser for us again sweetheart?" Dean asked me with a mouthful of something.

I wrinkled my nose at him but answered anyway. "If you drop me off at a library I can. But I haven't got my computer here." Not that it would have fit in a single bag anyway, it was a monstrosity, not one of these small laptops but a real life computer with a tower and everything.

Sam reached over his bed and brought back a laptop. "You can use that, passwords 'JBDSJM'." Wow, now that was a long password, that I was pretty sure no-one would get in a rush.

"Thanks." I said eyeing the tiny silver little thing with glee. I bet it even loaded up before you had time to make a coffee.

"Give us your cell number and we'll ring you if we find anything. Here's ours." Dean said grabbing a pen and scrap of paper from his bag next to him and scribbled something down on it before passing it to me.

"Er... I don't have a cell." I said after taking the scrap of paper. I didn't need a cell, everyone I knew didn't have one either except for the Cullen's and one of them was almost constantly with me anyway.

Sam and Dean looked at me as though I'd grown two heads. "You don't have a cell?" Sam asked me incredulously.

"You do know what year this is right B?" Dean added also sounding bemused.

"I really don't have one, I've never needed one before." I defended myself, knowing that wouldn't be a good enough answer for these two.

"Whatever. Just don't leave the room then." Dean told me while climbing off the bed and making me hold on to my coffee tighter as I wobbled with the sudden movement.

"If you need to ring us use the phone at reception." Sam added also standing up and brushing down his suit.

Wow, the brothers were hot anyway, but in suits. Wow. A little intimidating maybe but still hot. I guess that was the whole reason for wearing the suits though.

"See you in a bit Bells." Sam said heading for the door.

"Later." Dean added before walking through the door as well and closing it with a thump behind him.

I finished my breakfast and coffee before climbing out of bed and getting stuck into my task. Now I knew how to do it, it took me all of five minutes to find Charlie's cruiser. Something that would have taken my ancient computer at least twenty minutes to do.

I was excited to find that Charlie's cruiser was only three blocks from here. That meant he was close. That we were close. I'd probably be heading home with him in the next hour or two. I'd know he was safe, we could have a heart to heart and everything would be even better than before he'd left, cause now I knew the truth. Maybe I'd even be able to help him? With researching and stuff like that. What had Sam called it? Donkey work? Yeah, things would be better than ever between us.

I rushed to get dressed, not caring that I was actually wearing something I'd normally not be caught dead in. I ran a brush through my boring brown straight hair and grabbed the key that the Winchesters had left and rushed from the room to the reception. Excited now that the end was finally in sight.

I burst into the dark reception area, light spilling in with me making the room seem to brighten with my mood.

"Can I help you?" The woman behind reception asked me sounding surprised by me. Or maybe surprised that I was so happy in a place like this. She was older, perhaps in her late thirties with long brown hair like mine. Her blue eyes looked like they should sparkle but instead were dull. I couldn't imagine a place like this inspiring much else though.

"Yeah can I use a phone please?" I asked with a smile, one piece of good news away from bouncing.

"Er... Yeah, sure." She told me pushing a beige phone towards me on the desk.

"Thanks!" I said before picking up and dialling one of the phone numbers. I got Deans answer machine. So I tried the next number. This time I got Sam's answer machine. My good mood was depleted but not defeated. Turning my back on the curious receptionist I left a message for Sam. "I found it, parked up three blocks from here." I was about to put the phone down and leave it at that when a course of action occurred to me. "I'm going to go find it!" I said before hanging up. Why hadn't I thought of that before? I could be useful, Dean had even said that himself. And what was more useful than actually finding my dad?

I thanked the woman before leaving the dull reception area and heading into the bright sunshine. I was going to head straight for the cruiser when I had the sudden realisation that perhaps I was being a little rash. I mean after all there was something in this city that was preying on girls. In my age bracket.

So instead I went back to the motel room.

Five minutes later and I started walking to where Charlie's cruiser was parked up. A small black bag hanging at my shoulder. Inside was my wallet, the silver knife that Alice had packed for me and the gun, complete with six bullets. I hoped I didn't have to use it. I'd never even shot one before, but there was a hunt happening here and I wasn't going to be stupid. I'd at least be prepared for the worst.

The walk was quicker than I'd expected, with few people on the street between the blocks, but plenty of traffic rushing by.

I turned a corner and broke into a huge smile of relief. There in the car park to a small hotel was the cruiser, clear as day. Charlie was here!

I almost ran to the cruiser and tried the door. It was locked, of course it was locked, my dad wasn't stupid. I put my face against the glass and saw that the car hadn't changed. It was still in it's immaculate state, no rubbish or debris cluttering it up like in most cars. No, the car was in perfect order. Something niggled at my brain but I pushed it away after not being able to work it out.

I turned my attention from the car which hadn't helped me. I should learn to pick locks, or break into cars, that right now would be a handy skill. Instead I focused on the hotel, it was small and friendly looking, bright colours, freshly painted and clean. Was Charlie in there? I guess there was only one way to find out.

I headed into the hotel, to find a bright cheerful entrance with a white desk and a couple of comfy looking sofa's covered in plump green cushions.

Behind the desk stood a manicured blonde with a small smile plastered onto her tanned face. "Hello and welcome to Sunville hotel, how may I help you today?" The woman asked me with an insincere smile, her speech obviously something she recited twenty times a day.

"Hi, I'm looking for my dad, I think he might have checked in here, his name's Charlie Swan, and that's his cruiser in the car park. I don't suppose you could help me could you?" I asked with warm a smile. I was so close I could almost feel my arms wrapped around my dad in a rare welcome back hug.

"Nope." The woman smiled at me, a real smile now she was causing someone else some misery.

"What? Why not?" I asked, the stupid little computer thing was right in front of her. All she had to do was push a few buttons and tell me what room Charlie was in. Why wouldn't she? Did her life really suck that much that she had to mess with mine just for amusement.

"It's company policy not to give out customer information, its a breach of confidentiality." The way the woman spoke, her vocabulary. She'd obviously thought that she was meant for some place better than this. I wondered if there was anyway of getting round her? She resented this job, that was for certain and she wanted to be something else. Hmm... Bad idea Bella, bad idea. But it was the only one I had. I glanced down at her name tag and leaned in consipiritulosly.

"Look April, here's the thing. Officer Swan isn't my dad, he's my partner. You know the disappearances that have been happening?" I said making my voice harder, trying to be anything but a scared nineteen year old looking for her dad. It seemed to be working the woman looked shocked but leant in as well and nodded. "Well we're looking into it, I'm undercover, you know lost nineteen year old in the big bad city. And I've lost touch with Swan, he was suppose to check in yesterday and hasn't. All I want to know is if he's been back here and when. If you could help me out your country and city would be most grateful ma'am." I channelled my inner cop, defiantly a bonus of being raised by a cop and being surrounded by them for the majority of your life.

April swallowed and hastily nodded before going to her computer and typing into it. It worked! Oh my goodness it worked! And she was helping me out! And Edward said that I couldn't act, well I'd shown him.

"Officer Swan hasn't been back here since... Tuesday night it seems." April frowned at me.

"Hmm... Well that's odd, he never mentioned staying anywhere else and the cruiser's still here..." I said while looking like I was thinking hard when really my heart was actually sinking. Shit. If he wasn't here then where was he? I'd thought I was so close, but seems as though I was just where I was a couple of hours ago; nowhere. So what did I do now? Where did I go from here? "Do you mind if I take a look at Swan's room?" I asked the woman, looking worried, something that wasn't faked.

April looked a little worried at that herself. She didn't want to, that much I could see. "I don't think..." She hesitated. That was fine, now I knew what to do.

"Don't think on it, I'll go get some help, see if I can bring back a couple of guys from internal affairs, go through his stuff carefully, besides I haven't even got my badge with me." I placated the woman before thanking her for her time and leaving the hotel with a frown, my heart now set deep in my stomach. Something was really wrong here, that much was obvious.

So it was with a bowed head and what felt like lead in my shoes that I started walking back towards the motel. Couldn't I catch a break for once? Did I have that much bad luck attached to me? Everything that I'd been trying to fight back for the last two weeks all of a sudden came crashing down on me. My dad, my life plan, my monetary situation, Edward, what happened in my room back in Forks, my loneliness, all of it. Soon I was fighting back tears.

The day seemed to be reflecting my mood somehow, earlier it had been sunny, mirroring my optimism, my conviction that we were getting closer, that I was finally going to be reunited with my father. But now the clouds had come in making the day seem darker, more maudlin, like my mood.

The walk back again took moments. Or seemed to anyway as lost in my thoughts as I was.

I got into the still empty motel room and sat myself down on Deans bed. I don't know how long I sat there just wallowing in self pity, letting the tears finally flow before the door crashed open making me jump and swipe furiously at my face. I wanted no trace of them visible.

"Bella!" Dean said angrily as he came through the hardwood door. His tie now lose and his jacket clutched in his hand, his shirt sleeves rolled up making him look even hotter than before. Seriously, I had to fight the drool that was threatening to spill from my open mouth. For a second anyway. "What the hell do you think that you're doing!?"

"Huh?" I asked my throat still thick with tears making me sound like I had a bad head cold.

"I told you to stay in the room! And what was that message you left Sam? I'm going to go find it! That is not staying in the damn motel room! Do as your told, I haven't got time for hand holding!" Wow, Dean was mean when he was angry. But the thing was I'd actually been useful, I found out some information, and I hadn't needed my hand holding. Why was it everyone thought I was so incapable of anything? Instead of feeling sorry for myself I got angry for a change.

"What Deans trying to say Bella..." Sam started in a much more gentle tone, but I didn't care, I was angry now, and it felt kind of good.

"I didn't need my hand holding. It was three blocks away, I can manage that all on my own thanks! Now are you going to carry on having a bitch fit or do you want to know what I found out?!" I glared at Dean as my words came out as cold as ice.

Neither man said anything, they just looked at me in surprise. I guess I'd tell them then. "Until Tuesday Charlie was staying at the Sunville hotel, he hasn't been back there since, his cars still parked in the car park with nothing of interest on show. April, the woman who was on reception wouldn't tell me the room number or let me see the room. I had trouble getting that much out of her. Did you find out anything?" I asked now that my anger had disappeared almost instantly. I was proving that I could be useful, that I didn't need my 'hand holding'.

"Not much other than what we know, Charlie was on the case, using his real name but saying that the case crossed state lines so that he had some duristriction." Sam told me while throwing his tie and jacket on to his own bed.

"When the woman said no to letting you in the hotel room what did you do?" Dean asked me, he sounded like he was trying to catch me out. He might well have done, I didn't know what I was doing I'd just made it up on the spot.

"I told her that I'd come back with my badge and some people from internal affairs to sort it out." I said, my voice more hesitant than I would have liked it. But I didn't know if I'd made a huge faux paux or not.

Sam and Dean exchanged looks for a second before Dean said; "I'll go."

He then pulled out his phone and looked at me. "Go stand by that wall there and look miserable." Dean told me pointing to the one white wall in the room. I did what I was asked to having a slight idea where this was going.

"Perfect." Dean said after snapping a few pictures on his phone. "See you in a few." He then slipped from the room taking his tension and anger with him. This guy was like a yo-yo, one minute he was all happiness and light, making you laugh and smile, taking the piss out of you and making you feel like a life long friend, making you feel all warm and tingly. The next he made me feel like an intruder, like a stupid little girl, he was angry and tense and a heck of a lot less fun to be around. I didn't get it.

"Is your brother bipolar or something?" I asked Sam as I flopped back down on the bed.

"What Dean?" Sam sounded surprised.

"Yeah, he's got worse mood swings than I do when I'm on." I muttered pulling my legs up to my chest and resting my head on my knees.

"He's just tense. And he was worried about you out on your own, especially when you don't really know what your doing." Sam glanced at me looking like he felt sorry for me.

"I can walk down a street on my own. I've been doing it for years." I shot straight back again my anger coming out, which after nineteen years of being repressed felt good.

"Yeah, but Charlie's gone missing on this hunt Bella. Charlie who's been doing this since you were born. And something got the jump on him, no offence but you don't stand a chance on your own. We were just worried that's all. Dean was just worried." Sam told me before grabbing his bag and heading for the bathroom, leaving me feeling a little guilty in his wake.

I sat thinking about what he said for a few minutes. I'd thought I was being helpful, thought I was taking precautions, what with the knife and gun, but Sam was right, it did boarder on reckless. I didn't really have a clue what I was doing, I was making it up as I went along. But I was still alive right, not captured, not dead, but still not with Charlie.

Where was my dad, was he safe, ok? I fought with my conciseness which was trying very hard to show me imaginary pictures of my dad hurt, or worse dead. I fought it though and just imagined him so far into the hunt that he'd forgot everything else. Denial, not just a river in Egypt, but my life too.

Sam came out of the bathroom in his normal clothes again, looking extremely tired. Bags were starting to form under his brilliant, brown, green eyes that were almost as beautiful as his brothers. The brothers must have come from an excellent gene pool.

"I'm sorry, I was just trying to help. I'll listen from now on." I told the huge man, feeling and sounding very contrite. I didn't want to screw this up, to screw up a chance of finding Charlie. And I certainly didn't want to be the reason that anyone got hurt because I wasn't thinking properly about what I was doing.

Sam looked me over and smirked before nodding. "Sure Bella." He added sounding like he didn't believe me one little bit.

Sam came and took his laptop off my bed and clambered on to his own before typing into it. "What are you doing?" I asked curious.

"Looking into all of the girls, something doesn't feel quite right with a couple, they don't fit the profile of the others." Sam replied sounding distracted.

"What's wrong with them?" I asked, interested.

"All the girls, they're quite, shy, reserved, pretty. But two of them, they're partiers, lots of friends, out going. They don't fit the pattern." He explained with a small frown on his flawless face.

"Can I have a look?" I asked, I was interested to see how Sam was so certain that two of the girls weren't the right fit.

Sam glanced up at me and studied me for a second. "Sure." He said with a small smile that morphed back instantly to a frown when he looked back at his computer.

I walked over to Sam's bed and sat next to him. On the screen were pictures of all seven girls.

"Spot the odd ones out?" Sam asked me.

Ok, it was easy to pick out the two girls that didn't fit in this picture. One of them was blonde, bleach blonde with a nose ring and heavily made up eyes, a huge smile on her face that I'd seen on other faces before, usually when they'd been stoned. The other odd one out was a tall girl who had red spiky hair, a beautiful smile and was surrounded by people, all of whom looked slightly drunk. She looked like she was having the time of her life.

The other five girls were all pretty, but reserved, they all had their natural hair colour, all with polite smiles on their faces and all alone. They looked like your typical wall flower. The girl who'd rather sit and read a book than be in the spot light. They all looked like me. That thought stung. If I went missing that's how I'd be seen, the shy, mousey girl, the loner, the geek girl, the wall flower. Ouch.

"That would be number two and number seven. So why did whatever it is deviate it's pattern?" I asked Sam while trying not to think of just how pathetic I could possibly come across.

"No idea." Sam said with a sigh before typing a name into a search engine. The first thing that came up was a Facebook page for bleach blonde girl, who happened to be called Cindy Macker. She was seventeen and apparently went to Boston State High, she had five hundred friends, but other than that we couldn't find out any more information, her page wasn't open and I had a feeling she wouldn't be accepting any friend requests any time soon.

"Helpful." I muttered as Sam then typed in another name, odd girl out number two I guessed.

The girls name was Danielle Stevenson, she had three hundred friends, also went to Boston State High and was coincidentally the same age as Cindy, they were mutual friends. Coincidence maybe, or something else? Maybe they'd run off together or were just doing a bunk from town for a few days. I'd heard stranger things when teens went missing from Charlie.

"Ok, guess we've gotta find out if these two are actually missing or just out on a bender." Sam sighed, sounding exhausted by the prospect.

"So how do we do that?" I asked staring at Danielle's picture, she really was beautiful and looked so happy, so full of life. I hoped she was ok. I also selflishly hoped that I had photos where I looked so happy, where I looked less of the plain Jane that I felt right then.

The door opened then and Dean came into the room. A smile on his face, until he spotted me and Sam on the bed together, inches apart, then his smile dropped and he looked like he was being force fed lemons, or tuna. Why was he so upset? Did he not want me involved in the hunt in anyway? Was I to sit in the corner by myself and obsess over Charlie's journal? I didn't get men, not these ones anyway.

"Here Bella." Dean said, his voice tight and hard, throwing me something that landed straight in my lap. I picked it up, it was a cop badge, with the picture of me he'd taken earlier on it. He'd made me my very own counterfeit badge. Well... That was... Illegal, but not exactly surprising somehow.

"Dean..." I started saying, smiling softly at him as I did.

"Sammy get dressed again, we've still got work to do. Bella see if you can find something half decent to wear, ok?" Dean interrupted me, his voice still cold and hard.

Sam didn't say anything just shot first Dean a look and then me one, I couldn't decipher what it was all about. He then walked past us and to the bathroom, suit under arm.

"I'll leave you to get changed." Dean said, his voice still ice cold. He stormed out of the door slamming it behind him, leaving me staring at the back of the still shaking door in bemusement.

I got up to follow him, I had a small idea what his problem might be.

I walked out into the freezing air, the clouds had really taken hold now, I wrapped my arms around myself as I walked over to Dean who was leant against his pretty black car.

Dean looked any where but at me as I stood in front of him. "I'm sorry." I said softly, the cold seeping into my bones now. That made him look, his head whipping to look at me, his expression almost scared. For what I had no clue. "About earlier, I'll listen from now on. I didn't mean to worry you, or mess anything up." I explained myself, my voice still low, sincerity ringing true in every syllable.

Dean studied me for a second or two, making me flush his gaze was that scrutinous. "You're a woman, you won't listen, it's not in your DNA sweetheart." Dean smirked, back to his light hearted, joking nature, his yo-yo moods still firmly in place then. "And ya didn't do too bad, you know for your first hunt, you're turning out to be actually useful." He feigned surprise at that making me giggle.

"Well I'm trying, and I'll try to listen." I agreed, he was right, sexist pig, but right, I probably wouldn't listen. I was a bit too stubborn to be following orders, but I'd make an effort to at least try.

"You should do that more often you know." Dean told me his eyes lighting up, and a small smile lfting the corners of his mouth, a true smile for once. It took years off him.

"What listen?" I asked jokingly with a small giggle.

"No laugh." He said again with his true smile, making me flush bright red, but also making something in the pit of my stomach leap.

"Now go get changed, I'm not hanging around B!" Dean told me, his voice trying for stern but the smile ruining the effect some what.

"Yeah, yeah, keep your panties on D!" I said with a smile, walking back towards the motel room, feeling like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, one that I hadn't realised had been there. A smile lighting my face and a small flush warming me slightly.


	7. Chapter 7

**So here's the promised second chapter for the night, hope you're all still enjoying it! :) see you on the other side! **

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Chapter Seven

Devils Advocate

Dressed in one of the suits that Alice had packed for me, with my hair tied in a loose bun and a small amount of plain make-up on I was ready to go. With my badge in my inside pocket, the gun in the opposite pocket and the knife in my waistband I felt ready for anything, well most things anyway.

I left the room, locking it behind me and pocketing the key before heading to join the brothers at the shiny black car. "So what do you think? Will I do?" I asked as I reached the men, doing a quick twirl with a smile on my face.

Dean and Sam both smiled back at me before exchanging looks with each other. "You look ok, don't smile though. Cops don't smile that much, especially lady cops." Dean grinned at me before climbing into the drivers seat of the muscle car.

"You look fine Bells, you'll fool them no problem. Just remember the key is confidence." Sam advised me as he climbed into the passenger seat and I glided into the smooth back seat.

"Yeah, say anything with enough confidence and people believe you." Dean agreed with Sam as he pulled out of the motel parking lot.

I nodded while smiling, knowing deep down that I wasn't going to find this as easy as the brothers were making it out to be. Confidence was not something I had in abundance. But I'd give it a go. What was it that someone said 'if you can't make it then fake it?' Or something like that anyway. I'd fake it. And hopefully someone would buy it.

If I thought the walk to the hotel was short, it was nothing compared to the ride. It took all of a minute to get there and park up besides Charlie's cruiser.

"Let's have a look-see then." Dean mumbled before reaching into the glove compartment and bringing out a couple of tools, one of which I'd never seen before. One was a bag with what looked like Alan keys in, but that I recognised as his lock picking kit. The other was a long flat rod that I had no idea what the function of it was. It didn't look lethal though.

Together we climbed out of the car and headed first to the cruiser. I was a couple of steps behind Sam and Dean so that I could follow them but still look like I knew what I was doing. I didn't want to stick out too much.

Dean instantly went around to the drivers door and pulled out the rod thing. He inserted it between the door and the window, and glanced round, making sure no-one was watching. Jimmying it for a few seconds he tried the door only to find that it did actually open. I stared wide eyed at him as he smiled cockily at Sam and me. "Hell yeah, I am so freakin good." He declared before climbing into the car and fiddling around. "Trunks open!" He called through the glass to Sam and me.

Dutifully I followed Sam around to the trunk of the car. My heart beating furiously and my mouth drying out slightly. I couldn't believe that I was involved in this, was involved in something as illegal as this. Charlie would kill me if he ever found out. Or he would have done before all of this. Now I wasn't so sure.

Sam opened the trunk with one small tug and revealed the contents. There was nothing in there except a flashlight that looked like it had seen better days and a smashed compass. Sam started feeling around the bottom of the trunk though, going around the edges with special care.

"What are you doing?" I asked in confusion.

"Looking to see if there's a secret panel like in the Impala." Sam replied, his upper body in the trunk now as he investigated the very back. His words confused me though. First what was an Impala? And second I was pretty sure that a police cruiser wasn't going to need a secret panel. I mean it wasn't like Charlie would get pulled in the thing, and even if someone saw a police car with a trunk full of weapons would they be that surprised? Not surprisingly to me, Sam eventually came out and shook his head. "Nothing." He declared.

I nodded and walked over to where Dean was still sat in the drivers seat. "Did you find anything?" I asked him through the open window hopefully. Anything right now would be great.

"Yeah, your dad's got great taste in music, AC/DC, ZZ top, Black Sabbath, your old man really knows how to rock." Dean said brandishing some cd's at me. My face fell, when Dean had said that he'd found something my spirits soared again, I was hopeful for all of a second. But like everything else so far it was a bust. Dean must have noticed because he said softly. "We will find something, we'll find him. Don't worry. But you've got to have a bit of fun otherwise all this crap, it gets you down." He said the last bit still softly but with a stern edge to his voice, as though he was ordering me to enjoy looking for my missing dad.

"You find anything in the trunk?" Dean asked as he opened up the drivers door and wound the window back up.

"Nothing." I told him.

Dean and Sam shared one of their oh so annoying looks before both starting to walk towards the hotel together. I trailed behind feeling useless and a little depressed.

We entered the hotel reception and I was glad to find that it was the same woman behind the desk as earlier. I really hadn't fancied going through my cop routine again with the brothers stood right next to me. I had a feeling that I'd get teased for it later when we were alone.

"April." I said with a head nod to the woman, my voice as devoid as happiness as I was feeling. I noticed Dean raising his eyebrows and tilting his head to Sam, I didn't know if that was a good thing or not. I guess they'd tell me when this was all over. "I'm here to look over Swan's room." I announced while taking out my badge and flashing it to her before putting it back the way I'd seen my dad do a thousand times. "These are my colleagues from internal affairs..." I said nodding at first Sam and then Dean.

"Agent Mogg and Agent May ma'am." Sam supplied for me. I turned and looked at the brothers with raised eyebrows. Mogg and Way, they were the front men in UFO I was pretty sure. I was certain when Dean just smirked at me that I was right. Well Dean took that whole having fun on the job thing to heart.

"We've got a warrant to look at Officer Swan's room." Dean said with authority while pulling out another badge like thing from his pocket. He was right, he'd said it with so much confidence that I almost believed him and I knew the truth.

"Er... Yeah... Yeah... Sure, I'll just grab you the key... I should, er... Ring the manager?" April asked us looking confused but also a little bit excited. This was probably the most exciting that had happened to her this year.

"We don't need anyone with us ma'am this is official police business, and officer Swan's room could hold vital information pertaining to an ongoing investigation. As such we would prefer not to be disturbed." Sam told April, looking every inch a cop with a job to do. These guys were impressive to watch in action.

"Sure, sure. Mr Swan was in room 20. It's just down that corridor, then to your right, the closest one to the fire escape." April told us still looking flustered as she fumbled handing over the key to me.

"Thank you ma'am." I said taking the key off the desk and walking the way she'd pointed out. The brothers following on my heels.

"Not bad, for a rookie." Dean said when we were out of ear shot, his voice impressed.

"Thanks." I said back sarcastically, shooting him a look over my shoulder.

"What?" Dean asked sounding surprised, but I heard a smirk in his voice.

"Nothing, just that little compliment right there." I told him, reading the numbers on the white wooden doors as we passed. "Was great, you know except for the surprise in it, and that you made me sound like a liability as well as completely incompetent. It was great, really."

I heard Sam sniggering behind me and rolled my eyes. But I was doing what Dean had told me too, having fun on the job. And busting his balls was fun.

I stopped outside room twenty, just where April said it was, right next to the fire escape. I raised the key with a shaking hand but stopped before I could put it in the door. I was pretty sure that what ever was behind this door I wasn't going to like. If Charlie wasn't in here, then we were still without him, the disappointment would be crushing. But if he was in here and hurt, or even worse. Dread pooled in my stomach rather than the hope that was in there a second ago.

"Bells?" Sam asked me softly, his voice so soft, so compassionate that tears started forming in my eyes.

"Here I'll do it B." Dean said, his voice also soft, caring. His hand took mine and tried to take the key out of it. Deans hand was soft and gentle, making me feel stronger, more connected and back in the real world somehow.

I turned to face both men. "Thanks but no, he's my dad, I'll do it." I said in a voice no louder than a whisper. A tear escaping down my face which I roughly brushed away before facing the door again. My heart sinking I put the key in the door and pushed it open.

The room was empty, I was half relieved, half devastated. He wasn't here which meant that there was more chance that he was ok, that he was alive and un-hurt. But he wasn't here, we'd reached yet another dead end.

I walked into the clean, light room. There were pictures of the seven girls on the wall, string coming from them and stopping at pins on a map. The places the girls had gone missing from I guessed. At least we were right about one thing, Charlie had been on this hunt.

"Dean." Sam said quietly from the desk by the window. He was leafing through some papers that my dad had obviously left there.

I went across to the desk with Dean. "What is it?" Dean asked, his face hard and his voice serious.

"Read this." Sam said passing across a piece of paper to his brother.

Dean scanned the paper, holding it slightly out of my eye sight. "Seals? Charlie's on to it?" Dean asked his brother sounding both confused and impressed.

"Yeah, and he's made the connection dude." Sam said, his voice sounding like it was far away as he went through more papers on the desk. A deep frown marring his face.

"About what?" Dean asked, his voice even harder, reading the paper he was holding again, making sure he'd not missed anything I was guessing.

"About what started it." Sam said looking at Dean pointedly. He didn't have to revert to silent conversations, I didn't have a clue what either of them were talking about anyway. What were seals? Those blubbery fat animals that lived in the sea?

They were silent for a few minutes as they looked through more pieces of paper, I guessed that I wasn't going to learn anything from them, so I started looking in other parts of the room. Under the bed, in the chest of drawers and in the closet.

I hit pay load in the closet. It was at the very back, it should have been hidden behind layers of clothes, but all the clothes had been taken. So it was on show for all to see. It was a map, with places circled on it, a huge map, one of the entire USA. And next to every circle was something written. One of them said 'werewolf not on the full moon' another read 'nest of vampires'. I didn't understand any of it. But this was a clue right? Somewhere that told us where Charlie could possibly be.

"Er... Guys?" I said, stepping back from the closet so they could take a look. "I think I've got something."

Sam and Dean came over, looking in the closet as well. "Well that's just peachy." Dean grumbled sounding both annoyed and upset. I got the whole annoyed thing, I really felt that one, but I didn't get why the hunter was upset. Well not unless he was taking the whole empathy thing to a new level anyway.

Sam glanced at Dean. "We've got to get these back to the motel dude, look through them properly. And what about...?" He trailed off while shooting a glance at me.

"Need to know basis Sammy. And she don't need to know." Dean said. I didn't like the fact that they were hiding things from me, things that might actually tell me where my dad was. But at the same time I trusted them, if they said I didn't need to know then they were probably right. And I probably didn't want to know either.

"Yeah, you're probably right. If we're taking this stuff back then, we can't have the maid..." Sam started saying only to be cut off by Dean.

"Yeah, yeah." He rolled his eyes and then turned to look at me with a smirk. "Got a job for you sweetheart." I had a feeling I was not going to like this somehow.

"Head on back to the motel, tell the chick at reception that we don't want the maid coming in. Also pick us up some food while you're at it." Dean said with a smirk that looked forced.

I rolled my eyes but handed over the key to Charlie's room anyway. At least I could be useful somehow. "You want me to pick your dry cleaning up while I'm being your errand girl?" I asked Dean with a smirk off my own.

Dean just smirked back at me before turning back to the closet. I left the room, heading out of the hotel through the fire escape rather than through reception, I didn't want to face anyone right now.

I walked a couple of blocks towards the motel when I felt as though something wasn't right. I felt as though someone was watching me.

I patted my pocket, making sure that my gun was still in place before picking up the pace and checking my surroundings. The street was empty, completely empty, but still I felt as though something was following me. Spying on me.

I relaxed a little when I saw the motel up ahead, it was fine, I was safe. I could hole up in the motel, wait for Sam and Dean, tell them what happened and see if they could find anything. I'd be out of the way and safe. Win, win for all involved.

Too late I heard footsteps behind me, I turned just in time to see what looked like the end of a baseball bat coming towards my head. Pain shot through my head, intense pain like I'd never felt before. Then nothing, blackness.

~0~

I woke up with one hell of a headache and not a clue where I was. I couldn't remember for the life of me what had happened to get me here. Maybe I'd gone out with the Winchesters or something?

I opened my eyes and went to rub my head, hoping that might take away some of the pressure. I couldn't move my hands though, and something was cutting into my wrists pretty damn hard. So hard that it was painful. What the..?

I looked around me properly for the first time. I wasn't in the motel room, or even in Deans car. That much I was sure of. I was in a stone room, underground somewhere I'd guess from the coldness and the dripping water. The room was round, and I was tied to a chair on a raised platform in it. In front of me was a sunken stone pit, red markings on the floor of it. Black and red candles littered the entire room.

I wasn't the only one in the room, there were five other girls tied to chairs, four of them were gagged. And I recognised them all, these were the girls that had gone missing. Well five of them anyway. The wall flowers, the shy, quiet, reserved ones. The ones I fitted in with.

"Hey?" I said loudly to the girl who wasn't gagged, she was a pale, dark haired girl with glasses and she looked terrified. "Hey, what's going on?" I asked her, my heart beating a rhythm with my pounding head. I felt something run down my face as I moved my head; blood, I could smell it. But I was way too terrified to pass out right now. I needed my wits about me and my body seemed to recognise that as it refused to give in to the dizzy feeling that was overcoming me.

"They only need one more now." The girl whispered to me, her voice dry and crackly. She then looked at the floor, her eyes holding dismay and defeat.

"Who's they? Who are they? Need one more for what?" I asked, petrified. The girl didn't answer, she just carried on looking at her shoes. Guess I know why she hadn't been gagged then.

I looked around me, trying to look for anything that might help me escape, that might help us all escape. I found nothing, nothing to help us at all. We were screwed. How long had I been here for? Would Sam and Dean know that I was missing yet? Would they be looking for me? My money was on that they would look for me. I just hoped it wouldn't be too late.

I wondered what the brothers would do in my place. I had nothing though, I couldn't think of anything to help. I almost groaned in frustration. Why for once could I not be the damsel in distress? Why couldn't I be strong enough, good enough, resourceful enough to make my own way out? After this was over I was so going to demand that Dean and Sam taught me a thing or two. Like how to get out of situations like this for example. Well that was if I got out of this alive.

I struggled with my bonds even though it chaffed my wrists making them hurt more. They seemed inescapable, unbreakable. I felt my wrists burn and my skin break but I didn't give up despite how futile it seemed. I couldn't give up. I was determined that this time I wasn't going to be helpless, I'd never given in without a fight before even when I was face to face with a blood thirsty vampire and I sure as hell wasn't going to give in without a fight now.

I don't know how long I struggled for, it felt like hours, I got tired, and hungry, I wanted water and I needed the toilet. I eventually gave in, hoping a new and better plan might come to me. One that didn't involve me soiling myself.

After what felt like an age I heard footsteps descending what sounded like stairs. I froze, this wasn't going to be good, of that I was sure. Especially as how all the girls were looking towards a dark wooden door set into one of the bare stone walls and were struggling against their bonds. Yeah, not good.

The door opened and seven cloaked figures walked into the room. They wore black robes with hoods, with red strings around their waists holding them together. I didn't know what they were yet, I couldn't tell, they could be demons, vampires, wendingo's, heck they could even be ghosts for all I knew. Though going on what I'd read I was pretty sure that they weren't ghosts.

The figures moved onto the raised platform where we all sat. One by one they stopped in front of a girl and looked her over, offering food and water. Taking away gags to feed and water the girls. At least they were taking care of us until whatever they were going to do to us happened.

My turn came, the last in the line and I looked up at my captors. They seemed to be human, just seven humans. A mixture of women and men, all older, at least in their late thirties but that was the only similarity, some were fat, some thing, some butt ugly and some very beautiful.

This might be my only chance. "What do you want from me?" I asked in a tiny scared voice, acting a little bit more scared and a little more shy and quite than I was.

A man spoke up, he had a smile on his face, one that raised goosebumps down my back. He was probably late into his fifties, with a silver beard and deep brown eyes that held nothing but malice in them. "We want your life." The man simply said, lifting a goblet to my mouth.

I shifted away from it in my seat as much as I could, refusing the water that was being offered despite my thirst. It was then that inspiration struck. The knife that I'd stowed on myself earlier, in my waistband, they hadn't moved it. It was still in place. I grabbed it slowly with my hands, terrified that I'd drop it or that one of the robed people would spot it.

"Leave it. You'll drink when you're thirsty enough." A woman said in a posh voice to me.

As a group they made their way to a platform on the other side of the circle. There they sat in chairs clustered together. "What news have we on procuring a seventh, Victor?" The woman who'd addressed me said to a man, who's face was hidden.

"No closer, but we are working on it high priestess." The man said, his voice high pitched.

"Midnight will fast approach and then we shall only have hours in which to complete our tasks. Leave now Victor, and do not return until you have the seventh." The woman said. Oh, great I was going to have to sit and listen to a damn board meeting of the criminally insane. And I'd thought today couldn't get any worse.

I kept working on my restraints with the silver knife, getting more excited and feeling more bold with every strand I felt break.

As the pressure on my wrists started to lessen I remembered what Dean had told me. You had to have fun on the job. I might as well try it, it wasn't going to making anything worse after all.

"Hey guys? What's with the whole tying us up deal? I'm really not into that whole fifty shades of grey thing!" I shouted at the gathered people across the room, making them all turn to look at me.

"Jonas, gag our newest guest please." The woman said addressing a man who got up and quickly started to walk towards me. I sawed faster at my restraints, it was now or never.

"Yeah, I much preferred the other book. What was it called...?" I asked pretending to think as Jonas stood in front of me a piece of material clutched in his hands. He leant forward and I yanked my hands free, the knife still firmly in my grasp. "That was it, fifty shades freed!" I said jumping up and kicking the man in the shin.

He stumbled backward, more from shock than pain I thought, but it worked, he fell into the sunken pit with a crash.

I ran to the girl sat next to me and quickly cut through her restraints as the robed people gathered there wits and started coming towards me. "Run!" I told the girl, fully intending to try and keep them away so at least one of us was out of here, alive.

"Bella!" I heard a deep voice shout out from above, coming from the ceiling. Relief washed through me so strong that my knees almost gave way.

"I'm here!" I shouted back, before the robed guys were upon me. I kicked, punched and slashed at them with my knife. None of my kicks, or punches making contact unfortunately. But the knife made contact and slashed through the woman who seemed to be in charge's arm. Blood gushing out from the wound making me feel dizzy, but yet again I refused it give into it.

The door to the chamber burst open, the Winchesters stood there in the doorway looking fierce and angry. Both men carried a shotgun and a handgun each.

I turned to look at them with relief when I was grabbed from behind. "Drop the guns or I kill the girl." A posh voice said, a bleeding arm crushing my windpipe and something hard pressed to my head.

"Don't! Don't hurt her, we'll drop the guns." Dean said, his voice panicked, his eyes fearful. Together him and Sam started lowering their guns to the floor. Eyes never leaving me. I shook my head at them, what were they doing? They could save the other four girls, they could get everyone else out of here and kill the bad guys. That was what mattered, not me.

I couldn't let this happen, not cause of me. No way. I wasn't damning other people to death just because I was stupid enough to turn my back on the people trying to kill me. Anger flared red hot through my body.

I raised my foot high and brought it down with force onto the priestess foot. She howled in pain and instantly dropped her arms. I darted out of her arms and dropped to the floor as the Winchesters once again raised their guns. I didn't want to be caught in the middle of that cross fire.

Deafeaning gun shots echoed around the cavernous room, the only other thing that I could hear was the girls screams. After a minute or two, the gunshots ceased and I dared to look up, my ears ringing badly from the gun blasts.

I saw Sam freeing the girls with a knife similar to my own and Dean almost running to my side. "Bella!" He shouted dropping down to his knees and gently lifting me under the shoulders. "How are you doing?" He asked me as he sat looking me over, taking in my bloodied and cut wrists as well as my injured head, his eyes showing fear and worry.

"I'll be doing a hell of a lot better once we're out of here." I said standing up with a wince. If I could go one day this week without receiving an injury or being attacked that would be nice.

Dean stood up, putting a steadying hand on the small of my back. "We heard ya up there. The fifty shades thing. Funny." Dean told me while raising his eyebrows. Concern still in his eyes but being well hidden by humour and a smirk.

"Yeah you were right. I did have fun on the job." I said sarcastically while rolling my eyes. "I'm actually thinking of a career in comedy now."

"How did ya get out?" Dean asked me, as we started walking over to Sam who had freed the girls and was now waiting for us at the exit.

"I stashed a knife on myself earlier." I explained, knowing that they wouldn't need more than that to understand.

"What were they?" I asked looking back one last time on the now dessicated robed people who had tried to kill us all.

"Satanists, giving an offering of youth and virtue." Sam said, his tone disgusted. "This group called themselves the devils advocates, Victor up there was more than happy to talk." Sam explained at my confused look.

I nodded, feeling slightly dizzy again. I was going to be sacrificed? Bastards deserved to be shot then.

"More like devil's rejects now." Dean said with a chuckle, earning himself wide eyed incredulous looks from both me and Sam. "What?"

"Dude that was weak." Sam replied as together we started walking slowly up the stone stairs towards freedom.

~0~

"So where do we go from here?" I asked the brothers half an hour later as everything we owned was packed back into the car and we were speeding out of town.

"There's a couple of places we could hit. But we're not overly sure yet. Charlie's hunting something, that much we know. So we know he's one of about five places, not which one though. We need help. We need something to point us in the right direction." Sam explained to me from the drivers seat, as some soft rock music washed over us from the speakers.

"Erm... I've been thinking." I said quietly after a few minutes of silence.

"Go on." Sam said, glancing at me through the rear view mirror.

I winced and glared at Dean, "ouch!" I said, Dean was in the back-seat with me, patching me up from my small battle. So far he'd put butterfly stitches on my head and dabbed at my wrists with something that smelt bad and burnt. It wasn't pleasant.

"Sorry sweetheart." He murmured as he put a couple of bandages around my right wrist. Dean then looked up, catching my eye and making me unable to look away. I was transfixed. His beautiful green eyes were staring into my own boring brown owns, compassion and caring staring back at me. His eyes softened and a small sincere smile crossed his full lips. "That should be better now." He told me, his voice soft, barely more than a whisper, sending gentle shivers down my back. His deep rough voice coaxing something inside of me.

"Thanks." I said, my eyes still not breaking contact and my voice also a whisper.

"What were you thinking Bells?" Sam asked me, breaking whatever spell Deans eyes had cast on me. I looked away, blushing as I did. What was going on with me?

"Ok, well I'm guessing that I'll probably be with you guys till I find my dad right?" I said, my voice slightly nervous, I didn't know how they'd react to this.

"Yeah, I guess." Sam shrugged from the front.

"And you guys will be on hunts right?"

"Yeah." Dean said sounding suspicious, his eyes looking anywhere but at me.

"Then I want to learn." I said more boldly then I felt.

"Learn what exactly sweetheart?" Dean asked, his voice colder now but his eyes snapping to me.

"How to protect myself and other people, how to pick a lock, how to shoot a gun, how to get out of restraints and get the heck away. How to throw a decent punch." I took a deep breath, my voice loud and assured. But I wanted this, I wanted to learn, to not be the victim for once, to not be helpless anymore. "I want you to teach me how to hunt." I declared to the now silent car. The only sound was the soft tones of Blue Oyster Cults 'Don't fear the Reaper' flowing through the tense atmosphere.

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**So... What did everyone think? Will the guys just teach Bella how to hunt? Or do you think that there might be a little bit of resistance? Let me know what you thought of the chaps, I'll be back next week with more :) **

**Love always Tametiger x**


	8. Chapter 8

**hey guys, so I wasn't lying about the whole reviews make me write quicker thing! another chapter for you, thanks very much to everyone who left such amazing reviews! I loved writing this chap, and I hope you enjoy reading it just as much! as always I own nothing! Enjoy! :)**

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Chapter Eight

Geek Fest

"I want you to teach me how to hunt." I declared to the now silent car. The only sound was the soft tones of Blue Oyster Cults 'Don't fear the Reaper' flowing through the tense atmosphere.

"Sure sweetheart. First though, how tall are you exactly?" Dean asked sounding sarcastic and also slightly angry.

"What...? I'm five six, why?" I asked really confused now. I'd expected a lot of reactions, anger being one, but odd questions were not on the list of what I'd thought the men would say when I made my request.

"Hear that Sammy, make a note of it. We'll be needing a five foot six coffin next." Dean said, his voice laced with scorn. He scooted over as far away as he could get from me in the tiny car.

"Very funny." I said with a bit of annoyance.

"Not as funny as you wanting to learn how to do this crap sweetheart. Now that's freaking hilarious!" Dean lashed out at me, hurting my feelings slightly. I knew that I'd probably be no good at it, but I wanted to learn, I wanted to be able to take care of myself, to stop being a burden on the people around me.

"Why, why is that funny?" I asked, letting my anger surface once again. It was a damn sight better than feeling hurt.

"Why do you want to be a hunter?! You've got your whole life ahead of you. When we've got Charlie back you can go back to living a normal life. You can go back to being a person." Dean was almost shouting at me, his whole body rigid and his face screwed up with anger as he spoke to me.

"Go back to living a normal life? Got your whole life ahead of you?" I asked Dean, my own voice rising as well, but a little bit of hysteria seeping into it. "Really, D?" I bit out. "You know what I've got when I go back? Nothing! That's what I've got, nothing! No job, no money, no boyfriend, my friends will have moved away by then! What I've got when I go back is no prospects and a dad who's a hunter himself."

"You could have normal!" Dean tried to argue back to me, his voice slightly softer now, but still with an edge to it.

I cut over him, wanting him to understand, wanting him to get why I needed this. "Dean, if I don't learn how to do this I'm not going to have a life. I've been attacked by hungry vampires, angry shapeshifters, demons and satanists, all within the last year, and if it weren't for other people stepping in and saving me every time, I'd be dead by now. What happens the next time someone's not there? I'll tell ya what, I'm dead next time. I need to learn how to be a hunter, I need to learn so I'm not helpless anymore, not a sitting target!" I poured every emotion I was feeling into the last few sentences, hoping that he'd realise that this was life and death for me. Not just some passing fancy to look cool.

"I don't want to be helpless anymore." I said thinking back to what had happened in my bedroom with Edward, my voice soft now, not angry, a small tear escaping that I quickly brushed away.

"Sam pull over." Dean said from next to me, his voice softer still. Sam did as he was told and pulled over on the darkening road in the middle of no-where. "Stay here, don't move - I mean it." Dean said addressing me sternly, before getting out of the car. Sam shot me a small smile before climbing out and following his older brother away from the road. To where I couldn't hear them talking about me.

I sat in the darkening car by myself, watching the men for a few minutes, wondering what they were deciding. Every bit of me was hoping that they'd agree. That I'd have a chance next time something happened. None of what I'd said had been a lie, if something did attack me when I was alone, I'd be dead. No question. And I didn't want to die just yet.

The guys were out there for about fifteen minutes and it felt like the longest fifteen minutes of my life. Like I was waiting for judgement to be passed.

Eventually I saw them walking back over to the car. Both men looked exhausted, and I felt bad that it was me that made them look that way. That I'd caused a little more upset in their already messed up lives.

Dean climbed into the drivers seat with Sam next to him on the passengers side. Apparently now I no longer required first aid I was riding on my own again.

Dean started the car and pulled off, driving faster than the speed limit by quite a bit. What was it with men and speed? Perhaps I needed the y chromosome to get it.

We drove in silence for five minutes before I broke it, not being able to stand the suspense any longer. "So have you decided?" I asked the men, leaning forward in my seat for their decision.

"You owe me twenty dude." Sam said to Dean with a small. "Over five minutes."

"You couldn't have been a little more eager B?" Dean grumbled while glancing at me in the rear view mirror.

"I told ya some of us have patience. Cough up." Sam smirked at his brother and then at me.

"You betted on how long it would be before I asked?" I said incredulously. Did these men have no scrupuls?

"Got to make your fun where you can sweetheart, it's a long, boring drive otherwise." Dean said with a cocky grin.

"So did you make a decision or did you just bet on my facial expressions as well?" I asked a little bit annoyed, but finding the whole thing a little funny as well. One thing was for sure, I'd never guess what was coming next with these two.

"Yup." Sam said with a sly grin, winding me up on purpose I guessed.

"Yup you decided? Or yup you'll train me?" I asked, the annoyance finally getting the better of me.

"We'll teach ya some stuff. Maybe." Dean said, a smirk in his voice, his back to me but I could just imagine the mischief lighting up his eyes at teasing me for just a little bit longer.

"Okay, I'll bite. Maybe?" I asked, my voice lighter as I imagined the happiness jumping in Deans eyes right now. I shook my head, I really needed to stop thinking things like that, that thinking would only end badly.

"Yeah, maybe. First you gotta agree to some terms and conditions." Dean said, his voice serious again.

"Great." I said leaning back in my seat, preparing myself for a long list of things that I wasn't going to agree to. My mind racing with what the Cullens would have me agreeing too; like no actual fighting or getting myself into dangerous situations. Basically the whole learning by observing thing. And that wasn't what was going to keep me alive, that much I was sure of.

"You wanna hear them or not sweetheart? It was your idea after all." Dean turned and glanced at me briefly before looking back at the road.

"Sure." I mumbled, a lot less eager now.

"First of all, you've got to do exactly what we say when we're on a hunt. Even if you don't like it. We tell ya to run, you run, we tell you to hide, you hide. We tell ya to fight a dude five time the size of you, you do it." Dean told me, his voice faraway at the end, but serious.

That didn't sound too bad, I could do that without a doubt.

"Ok, I agree to that." I said, leaning forward in my seat, once again eager.

"You might want to listen to it all before you agree sweetheart." Dean said, his voice still deadly serious.

"You're gonna hate us at some points." Sam declared to me, I couldn't imagine for a second that he was right. I didn't do hate, and even if I did, I'd be endlessly grateful to these men, hate wouldn't come close to how I felt for them. Still I nodded, letting them know I was taking in what he said. "But everything we do, we'll do it for a reason. To teach ya something."

"You don't go out looking for trouble. Even when your pissed and realise you can kick some dudes ass to feel better about shit. Don't make trouble, it'll find you anyway, no need to make it." Dean said, his voice holding no humour even though I found that clause completely laughable.

"Don't hold back. Give everything you have." Sam said, again I nodded, I would give everything I had, every inch of myself I'd put into this. After all it meant my survival. "Even if you want too. Like when you're fighting Dean and me, which you'll have to do, if we tell you to hit us, hit us with everything you have. You won't hurt us. Don't hold back."

"I won't." I agreed passionately, the way they were speaking, it was making me even more eager, more determined to do this. They were serious about this stuff. But they were also passionate, and that rubbed off.

Dean sighed, he sounded weary and also kind of sad. "Sweetheart, think about this. You're gonna see shit that'll give ya nightmares. You'll do things that'll change you forever, that will make you hard. You'll stop being a person and start being the job, well at least till we find Charlie." His voice held a deep underlying sadness that made me question what I was doing. If this life was so terrible, if it hurt a person as much as Dean seemed to be, if it messed you up that bad, should I still do it?

I thought for a few minutes before I realised that I really didn't have a choice. If I didn't learn it, I would die. So it was either I changed, or I died. Like I said, no choice.

"I agree, I've listened and I agree. I want to do this, I need to do this." I said, my voice quiet but determined.

"Fair 'nuff." Dean nodded, not sounding particularly happy, more resigned than anything.

"Welcome to the team Bells." Sam said with a sad little smirk for me.

~0~

"B!" Someone shook me awake, their deep voice barely even a whisper, breaking through the darkness of sleep that had taken me over not too long ago.

"What?" I asked groggily opening my eyes to find Dean in the back-seat with me, Sam fast asleep in the front seat. In his hands Dean clutched something wrapped in a diner bag and two coffees.

"We're stopping for the night sweetheart, thought you'd prefer a bed than the back-seat of my baby." Dean said, his eyebrows raised and a wolfish smile across his face. I blushed deeply as I got his double entendre. And even deeper when I started imagining his little scenario. I needed to stop the bad, bad thoughts. Before they got me in trouble, if only with myself.

"Thanks." I said stretching the stiffness from my limbs. "Where are we?" I asked as I looked around the full parking lot outside of a high rise motel building.

"We're just outside Cleveland sweetheart. Here." Dean passed me one of the coffees, which I took gratefully.

"Thanks." I said with a yawn.

Dean just gave me a quick nod, accompanied by his trade mark smirk before climbing out of the car and knocking on Sam's window. The tall hunter jumped awake, literally, banging his head on the low ceiling and making me and Dean both crease up with laughter.

"Really funny dude. Fucking hilarious. Jerk." Sam muttered sounding seriously pissed.

"Bitch." Dean called as he walked around to the trunk of the car and opened it.

I climbed out and followed Dean to the trunk, taking my bright pink bag off of him. Sam followed moments later grabbing a couple of bags that I'd started to recognise as his. Together we made our way to the motel.

We checked in, me paying despite the protests of the brothers. One after another we trudged up the two stair cases that lead to our home for the night.

The motel room wasn't too bad. Two big beds, a tv, a sofa, a fridge, table and chairs and the bathroom, not exactly the Hilton, but not too bad either.

As soon as we entered the room Sam collapsed on to one of the beds, still in his clothes and boots. His snoring filling the room in minutes.

"I'm gonna grab a shower." I told Dean who had sat himself at the table taking out a piece of pie from the diner bag and had started devouring it. He just waved at me.

I let the hot water wash away all of the tension I'd been holding over the last few days. The water soothing my tense muscles and relaxing me. While I was in the tiny cubicle I also took care of my basic hygiene. Washing my hair and shaving my legs, thanking Alice silently while I did for packing my razors and some shaving foam. Pixie really though of everything.

A few minutes later though and I was cursing the tiny annoying vampire. She'd packed what she thought was appropriate nightmare. I'd had the choice between a skimpy nightgown in baby glue, a long silky nightgown in gold or a pair of shorts and a tank top also in a light blue which were silky and trimmed with black lace. Great choices there.

I eventually chose the blue pyjama set, the lest revealing or sexy of the three. I dried my hair and tied it out of my way before heading back into the room.

Dean glanced at me as I walked in, a quick glance before going back to his half eaten pie. After half a second though he paused and looked back at me, his eyes growing wide and his mouth dropping open. His eyes raked up my body, starting at my bare feet and taking in my legs before gliding upwards to my body and then my chest. Finally his eyes came to rest on my face, which must have turned crimson under his scorching gaze.

I tried to shrug off the burning heat of Deans eyes assessing me. I walked over to the table and sat myself down opposite him, glad that the table was hiding some of my bare flesh that was on show.

"Hey, you got another spoon?" I asked nodding towards his half eaten pie, my stomach choosing that moment to let out a gurgle.

Dean let out a breath and then started laughing. "Sure B." He said getting up and fetching me a spoon from one of the grotty draws next to the fridge.

Silently we both started tucking back into the sweet apple pie. After a minute or two Dean broke the comfortable silence that had settled over us. "You fancy something to wash that down with?" He asked me with a little smirk, his beautiful eyes twinkling. How could I say no?

"Sure." I said before taking another bite of the pie.

He leant back in his chair and opened up the fridge pulling two beers from it and putting them down on the table between us.

I twisted the top off mine and took a sip before eating the pie again. Pretty good combination surprisingly.

"So where are we heading now then? What's the plan?" I asked sitting back in my chair, the pie case had only a few crumbs left and my beer was half empty. But I was full and feeling the warmth the beer had created in my stomach.

"We're going to see a friend, he might be able to help us find Charlie and he'll sure as hell be able to help train you." Dean told me with a smirk.

"Who taught you to do this?" I asked Dean with interest.

"Our dad mostly, but Bobby helped out from time to time and a couple of other hunters pitched in when we stayed with them." Dean said his face hardening slightly, I realised he really didn't want to talk about this. So I changed the conversation completely. I'd find it out if the brothers wanted me too know.

"What do you do for fun then? Ya know when you have a break?" I asked accepting the second beer that Dean passed me and trying desperately to ignore the leaping feeling in my chest when his hand brushed mine.

"We play cards when we've not got a lot of time, like tonight." Dean told me his mouth curling up at the sides into a little smile.

"What do you play? Blackjack, Texas hold'em? Go fish? Snap?" I questioned matching his smile.

"Texas hold'em or blackjack yeah. Though the snap thing got band when a game got out of hand and we busted Bobby's table." Dean said with a smirk, I wasn't entirely sure if he was joking or not. Still I smiled back, chuckling as I imagined Sam and Dean breaking a table over a game of snap, all too easy to imagine.

"What else do you do, apart from break tables in peoples homes?" I asked with my own little smirk that I was starting to pick up after only five days of hanging with these men.

"We go to concerts, watch the game, we listen to music, Sammy likes to read." Dean said that bit with an eye roll which hid a fond smile. "We hit fairs and theme parks. And once a year we have Vegas week!" Dean told me his eyes lighting up as he said that. I'm guessing that was a favourite of his. "What about you B? What do you like to do in your free time?"

I flushed bright red again under his look, not sure if I wanted to let on just how much of a geek I could be. But hey, he'd learn at some point seeing as how this seemed like it was going to be an extended trip. "I like to ride my motorbike, and I liked helping Jake fix them up. Er... I like to play poker too, and watch crappy tv programs. I go to the movies but I can't stand soppy love movies, they suck. And I like to read too." I told him while looking at the table. There was something really embarrassing about telling someone your hobbies, especially when you wanted them to like you. Especially when they were as hot as Dean.

"What movies do you like then?" Dean asked me and I looked back up, instantly at ease again.

We spoke about what we liked and disliked for a couple of hours, laughing out loud at each other. Joking and chatting, generally getting to know each other as more than our roles on this trip.

I had a giggle fit when I found out that he was a closet geek, his favourite movies being star wars and that he loved star trek. But he got his own back when he found out just how clumsy I was and that I hated the sight and smell of blood.

Eventually Dean declared that he needed a shower and left the room. Yawning and stretching I climbed into Deans bed, not even trying to share with Sam again.

I laid in the comfy bed with a smile on my face as I took in the water damaged ceiling. Amazed at the difference between today and three nights ago. I'd been falling asleep then with tears streaming down my face, feeling like my whole life had gone down the pan. Nothing had changed since then, except the way I saw the two men that I was travelling with. Instead of strangers I was starting to see Sam and Dean as friends. And what a difference two good friends could make to your life, I thought as I felt the heavy pull of sleep taking it's toll, falling to sleep still with that smile on my face. Sam's snores and the shower comforting noises that I fell asleep listening too.

~0~

I woke early the next morning with sleep brain. I couldn't remember where I was, what I was suppose to be doing or even what day it was. I turned in my bed, hoping to get another half an hour of sleep and hoping that when I woke up it was with a bit more intelligence.

Brilliant green brown eyes stared at me from the other side of the bed making me instantly remember everything.

"Morning B." Dean whispered to me, a small smile gracing his features. Morning stubble caressing his strong jaw line and making him seem even more sexier than usual.

"Morning D." I whispered back, once more under the spell of his eyes. I just couldn't look away.

I was suddenly aware of how close our bodies were under the sheets. Inches separated us, our faces so close that I could count the freckles that were spattered across his amazing cheeks. His face was relaxed making me realise how little he normally seemed at ease. The small smile mixed with his relaxed expression took years off his face and made him seem even more handsome than usual.

Deans eyes seemed to sweep my face, taking in every little detail of it, making my blush spread across my face again.

"That colour suits you sweetheart." Dean whispered to me, his eyes sparkling with mischief and something else that I couldn't quiet read.

"What blue?" I asked, glancing down at myself but realising that you couldn't see any of my nightware from under the covers. My face then creasing in confusion, so what was be talking about?

"No you're blush, that pink tinge. It suits you." Dean whispered looking into my eyes intently.

Typically I blushed harder making Dean let out a small chuckle. His body shaking the bed and making me inch slightly closer to him, the warmth of his body seeping through to my bones.

"You're cracked." I whispered smiling, wanting nothing more than this moment to last forever.

Dean rolled his eyes at me but was still smiling. He looked back into my eyes and his face suddenly grew serious. My heart started pounding in my chest, my mouth went dry and my body started tingling. Was he going to...?

"Morning guys!" Sam called while getting up from his bed, his voice chirpy and a complete and utter mood killer.

"You're chipper this morning Sammy." Dean declared climbing out of bed and taking the warmth with him.

My head flopped back, my body sagged, the breath whooshed out of my body. What the hell had just happened? What was that?

"What's not to be happy about?" Sam asked smiling and pulling out a soda from the fridge.

"I don't know, global warming, Paris Hilton, the end of the world?" Dean joked, his face light and open, a smile stretching across his gorgeous features.

"Not to mention Harry Potter, Elton John and the rainforest disappearing." I joked back while sitting up in bed, pushing away any feelings or desires I had a minute ago. They were stupid, I couldn't go there, I couldn't. Bad, bad, bad.

"You got it sweetheart." Dean smirked at me.

"Yeah, yeah, you two laugh it up but I'm not going to give in. I'm going to be in a good mood even if it kills both of you." Sam laughed grabbing his bag and heading into the bathroom.

"Breakfast before we hit the road B?" Dean asked me, not meeting my face while pulling on his boots at the table.

"Yeah sure."

"I'll be back in a few." Dean said grabbing his keys and walking out. Leaving me in a complete mystery. Had that been my imagination? Had I blown everything out of proportion?

~0~

Sam and Dean were sat in the front seat singing along to a Metallica song I'd never heard before and I was reading my dads journal again. We'd been driving for five hours and I was starting to get bored.

"You not a Metallica fan Bells?" Sam asked me with a smile when the song had finished and Dean had turned the volume down.

"Yeah I am, just not heard that one yet, I'm new to the whole rock thing. But I'm loving it so far." I said with enthusiasm. Metallica weren't in my dads cd collection, I'd found them on my own and I'd loved the few songs that I'd downloaded so far.

"Thank god for that otherwise we'd have had to throw down right now." Dean said making me giggle.

"Yeah, another rock nut, just what we needed." Sam muttered but a smirk lit his face as he did.

"You not loving the rock Sam?" I asked in confusion, he'd not complained once about the music since I'd been travelling with the guys. And he'd sang along to a few songs, always looking like he was loving the moment.

"It's ok, I just which we could listen to something that was released after the seventies, that's all." Sam said while shooting Dean a pointed look.

"Driver picks the music, passenger shuts he's pie hole." Dean joked back at his little brother.

"Yeah, yeah. New tune dude, as in sing one." Sam quipped right back at the man. "You like anything other than the best of Mullet Rock Bells?"

"Bit of everything." I shrugged. "I've got something from every genre on my ipod." I told him, leaning forward and smiling. I hadn't really stopped smiling in the last couple of days, the guys made the days seem brighter somehow. Better.

"Hand it over then." Dean smirked at me. Dutifully I passed my green ipod to the hunter, nervous now that he only had one hand on the wheel when we were going so fast. Some habits died hard when you'd been brought up by a cop.

"Dude have you got your douche thing you had when you made the Impala your depression wagon." Dean said with a smirk to his brother.

Sam's face creased with pain but he covered it by smiling and grabbing something from the glove box. A couple of minutes later and my music was pouring through the car. The Impala, I'd finally learnt what the car was and what an Impala was, thankfully.

Pink's 'Blow Me One Last Kiss' came through the car first of all, making Sam smile but Deans face scruntch up in almost pain. He pressed next making me and Sam both scowl at him.

Next song was Taloys Swift's 'Love Story'. "B you better have something other than this chick shit on here otherwise it's gonna be a long two hours." Dean grumbled pressing next again.

"Two hours till what?" I asked confused.

"Till we get to Bobby's." Dean said before exclaiming "that's better!" And turning up the music. Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid' came blasting through the speakers making Sam groan but me and Dean smile before both singing along.

I began to think that two hours might just fly by. Then I'd get to meet Bobby, the man who had helped to train Sam and Dean. And who hopefully might be able to help find Charlie.

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**well hope you enjoyed that! next chapter we'll meet Bobby, who might not be happy about B learning to hunt... until then, as always let me know what you thought, the good, the bad and the inbetween! love always Tametiger x! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**sorry there's been a little wait for this chap but i've been busy building my very own library at home :) so here's the next chapter - where we all get to meet Bobby, i hope you think that ive done him justice! hope you enjoy it! **

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Chapter Nine

Hitting Out

Just as predicted the two hours flew past. Sam and Dean sung along with some of my songs, teased me about others and just plain skipped a lot of them. Both of them frowning at the classical music stored before skipping it, much to my delight. It reminded me too much of douche bag ex vampire boyfriends. Something that I'd been trying desperately to repress.

Soon Dean had slowed the car right down and was turning into what looked like a scrap yard with the words "Singers Auto Yard" above the double gates. The place was certainly imposing. Mounds and mounds of cars lined our progress towards what I assumed was going to be a house, though going on what I'd seen so far I wouldn't have been surprised to find a Sting of the dump style set up.

As we travelled further into the junk yard I started to feel slightly apprehensive. Especially as I listened into the brothers conversation. "Maybe we should have rang and told him we were bringing company first?" Sam said, not exactly sounding nervous but not totally relaxed with this either.

"Chill dude, it's Bobby, he'll be fine." Dean replied completely relaxed.

"I'm just saying man. Maybe we should have told him that we were coming. And bringing someone. Does Bobby even know Charlie?" Sam's nerves were rubbing off on me.

"Does it matter? You know Bobby, he'll be cool, he'll help." Dean was still un fazed.

"Yeah." Sam agreed making me relax slightly.

"So what are we going to do then? Tell Bobby everything, hope he helps and then go get a motel or something?" I asked the brothers eager to know how this was going to work now that I was fairly sure that Bobby wasn't a murderous, cranky old man, who was going to take off my head for daring to step foot on his property. In my head I had a less groomed version of Charlie, or an old Dean.

"Nah, we'll crash here till we've got something to go on." Dean said as though it was nothing.

"Here? Were just turning up out of the blue, asking for help and expecting this man to put us up too?" I asked incredulously, that seemed a little rude. And maybe a bit insane if any of what of Sam had said was true, you know about him being pissed that they'd brought me here.

"Yeah, but it's Bobby. He's like... Like our adopted dad or something." Dean said with real fondness and real feeling colouring his voice, as well as the smallest touch of sadness. Something else that I bet the brothers wouldn't elaborate on, not that it was any of my business though.

We pulled up outside of a big house, the outside painted a light blue, a stoop running around the side of it and hub caps decoratively adorning the wall. Sam and Dean instantly un tensed, the way I did after a long day when I got home. And I wondered, was this the closest thing they had to a home? Was this where they came to unwind, was this the man that I was about to meet that made them feel safe?

I dutifully followed the brothers up the steps and into the house, not really surprised when they didn't knock. You never knocked before you entered your home, did you? I was however surprised to find that I was happy for them, happy they had some where to go, someone to go to when things got really tough. Not that anything seemed particularly easy for these men.

"Bobby?" Dean shouted as he entered a kitchen. It was basic, just the bare essentials and it needed a bit of TLC but it was cosy, homely even.

"I'm here!" Shouted back a voice from another room, I was instantly on edge. The voice sounded gruff and annoyed. I worried about what he was going to think of me, his opinion obviously meant a lot to the brothers. What if Bobby didn't like me, or told Sam and Dean to take me back home? Would they listen?

I followed behind the brothers as they made their way into another room, still at ease. I however was anything but. I desperately wanted to make a good impression on this man. I wanted him to like me.

The second room we entered was a cross between a lounge and a study. There was a couch in the room, an old television set, and thousands of books piled up on bookcases around the room. It was decorated in a warm red colour, helped by the fireplace in the wall at the back. There was also a big cluttered desk in the room as well, sat behind it was the man I assumed was Bobby.

He wasn't what I imagined at all, defiantly not an older Dean, well unless he shrunk a bit, put on a hell of a lot of weight and looked as though he had no interest in what he looked like what so ever. The man was wearing a baseball cap, flannel shirt, t-shirt and jeans. He had a scruffy beard that was tinged with grey and greying brown hair peered out from under his cap. He looked terrifying.

"Hey Bobby." The brothers said together, which was a bit eerie, but they both had genuine smiles on their faces.

The man looked up from a book he was reading with a smile as well, apparently happy to see the brothers. That is until he saw me standing there though. Then he frowned, looking from Sam and Dean to me. "What you igits done now?" He asked, his voice sounding a bit fed up, a sigh accompanying the question.

"What? We haven't done anything!" Dean said, pretending to sound upset by the accusation but a smirk was on his face as he did.

"Yeah right. So you're just turning up here without ringing first, bringing a girl with you for the first time ever and you expect me to believe you're just here to say hi?" Bobby asked, his voice still sceptical, sarcastic even.

"Er yeah?" Dean smirked again.

"Bobby this is Bella." Sam said stepping back so that he was level with me.

"Hi." I said trying to smile but failing, my voice holding the nerves I was so desperately trying to hide without success.

Bobby nodded at me while looking me over from head to toe. I had the weirdest feeling he was assessing me for something, though I had no idea what.

"Bobby do you know a hunter called Charlie Swan, he was a friend of our dad's?" Dean said, getting straight to business, his voice serious now.

"Yeah, sure. I've met Charlie a couple of times. Helped me out with a skin walker once, good man, good hunter." Bobby said lightly.

"Well he's missing." Sam said bluntly. "Went on a hunt and never came back. This is his daughter." He motioned to me.

"Isabella? But I thought she was in the dark about... Well everything." Bobby frowned, ignoring me and looking between the brothers again. I realised the only way I'd make an impression on this man was if I spoke up.

"I didn't. Not until Charlie didn't show up, he left me a letter telling me to ring John if he didn't turn up. And then these two arrived at my doorstep." I said motioning with my head to Sam and Dean.

"So you igits just thought that you'd bring her along, tell her all the trade secrets and drag her to my doorstep?" Bobby growled sounding a little angry and making me even more nervous. "I guess this is your fool idea boy?" He glared at Dean, who took a step closer to me and crossed his arms.

"Bobby, there were demons attacking her when we arrived. And a vampire tried to kill her that night too. Couldn't exactly leave her on her own and hope she'd make it while we were out looking for her old man could we?" Dean asked the older hunter.

Bobby looked me up and down and sighed. "You igits better take a seat then." He said while nodding to sofa.

Sam and Dean sat at either end of the comfy looking couch and made me room for me. I sat between them, still feeling a little out of my league as we all looked toward the old man behind the desk.

"So what you need help with then? Finding Charlie or babysitting?" Bobby asked while shooting me a glance. I had a feeling he was testing me somehow, I didn't know what I was supposed to do, but I got angry. Babysitting? How dare he?

"I don't need babysitting thanks, I need help tracking down my dad." I said, the anger I was feeling coming through in my voice. "Can ya help me or not?"

"If you're asking someone for favours girl, you might want to speak to them with a civil tongue." Bobby said, but his face had lightened a bit, I think that I may have passed whatever test he'd set for me.

"I'm sorry, you're right. I just want to find my dad, he's been gone for almost three weeks and for the last week I've been on the road with Sam and Dean. I've been attacked by demons, vampires and almost sacrificed in some messed up ritual by some satanists, I'm a little tetchy and a little tired and I want to find my dad. Sam and Dean said that you might be able to help find him, if you could I'd be grateful, if you can't just say and I'll look for someone who can." I said, my patience finally wearing out as everything started wearing down on me again.

Dean and Sam were sat looking at me with surprised but amused looks plastered across their handsome faces. "What?" I mouthed at them both with annoyance. They both smirked and shrugged at the same time before looking back at Bobby. The older man was watching our exchanges with a smile which he was trying to hide in that bushy beard of his unsuccessfully.

"What have you got to gone on so far then. I'll see what I can do." Bobby addressed me.

"Thank you." I said with a small smile.

"Don't thank me yet girl, I haven't done anything. Just tell me what you got." The man growled at me with a frown.

"We traced Charlie's police cruiser to a hotel in Boston." I started only to be interrupted by Sam.

"Bells traced the cruiser." He added for me with a smirk making me blush slightly.

"Alright I traced the cruiser. Then the guys tried to find out if he was actually working a hunt or not. He was, but he wasn't there when they found out about it." I carried on talking only to be interrupted by Dean this time.

"Well B found it actually." He smirked at me as well, making me flush again, this time though from embarrassment.

"One of you two want to tell him about it?" I asked the men.

"Ok." Dean said still smiling and barely taking a breath as he told Bobby everything from our search for Charlie so far. In detail. Leaving nothing out, not even my little fifty shades quip, or how I'd asked to be trained by the men so that I didn't die. Can't say I was grateful for that.

"Ok, so let me get this straight then." Bobby started saying sounding a little angry with the situation so far. "You found out that Charlie's dragging his ass around the USA, you don't know why or if it's even on his own back or not. You don't look for stolen cars in the area, you don't check any of his aliases or see what name he used on his credit card when he checked into the hotel? And then you two igits agree to train his only daughter how to be a hunter, when ya didn't even cover the basics on a routine job?" The man growled out. "Freaking geniuses you boys. And you Sam, I'm surprised at you."

"Me, why?" Sam sounded upset that he was being singled out in this chastastation.

"Cause you're suppose to be the smart one college boy!" Bobby barked out.

"We were worried about B Bobby, we had to get her out of there." Dean tried to defend their actions, his voice slightly harder than normally.

"Yeah and never has the phrase out of the frying pan into the fire been so apt. You drag her out of a hunt alive and then say you'll train her? Why not sign the death warrant now? You know it's true Dean don't give me that look. She aint gonna hack it and we're gonna have another body on our concious." Bobby said before standing with a sigh and walking out of the room, only to come back seconds later with four bottles of beer in his hand.

He passed one each to the brothers and then one to me. I took it gratefully, downing almost half before the older man had sat behind his desk again.

"They've told me all this. That I shouldn't be doing it. But I need too. Did you not hear what's happened to me within the last week? I need to know how to protect myself, otherwise you really are going to have another body on your hands." I said looking at Bobby, the beer rushing around my veins and making me feel bolder. Dutch courage at it's best.

"Girl, I'm sure that you think this is the only way. But it aint. You got a shot at a normal life you should take it. Cause this life style, no matter what those boys make it look like, it aint easy. It's hard and sucks ass, and your friends, your family, the people you love they die from it. And you have to watch it. Then you die bloody and painfully. This isn't a life for a young girl." Bobby told me, his tone serious and morose.

"Wow, all you guys are cut from the same cloth aren't you, that's almost exactly the same thing that Dean told me." I said while shooting Dean a smile, his face was creased with a frown though. I rolled my eyes before facing Bobby again.

"These guys, they don't make it look easy, they make it look like it's hard and painful and that you get seriously messed up from it. I haven't got a shot at a normal life, believe me, I wish I did but I don't. And as for watching my friends and family die from this lifestyle? What you think that I think Charlie's run off to Mexico with his beautiful yet down to earth lover? And he's all I got at the minute. I can either sit at home on my own and pretend everything's gonna work itself out and that Charlie's one day gonna magically reappear while hoping nothing supernatural attacks me despite my home town being over run with that stuff. Or I can help find Charlie and maybe help to save myself and other people too. Learn to not be the victim in my own life story anymore. So that's what I've chose to do." I finished my little monologue before finishing my beer.

"Least you've thought it through I guess." Bobby said with a sigh while leaning back in his desk chair. "And you two fools, you're gonna train her?" He asked the brothers.

"We're gonna give it a shot." Sam said making me frown at him but Dean let out a little chuckle.

"Fine. I'll look into Charlie, do the leg work you igits should have done." Bobby grunted while pulling out a phone, and a couple of what I recognised as fake Id's. We sat watching him for a minute before he looked up. "Well what you waiting for, a solid gold invitation to the party? Get to work!" The man snapped at us, his voice commanding.

~0~

Sam was right, there were times that week at Bobby's when I hated the Winchesters. Seriously hated them. Like when Sam woke me up at five in the morning to go for a three mile run, despite the fact that Dean said there was no point to that bullshit. Dean's theory was that if you needed to run you would whether you'd been practising that or not. I liked that theory, that theory didn't have me up before the sun and on a three mile run with a drill sargent.

Dean was just as easy to hate though. The boys had brought and installed me a punch bag in the spare room that Bobby had so graciously let me sleep in. And Dean had taken it upon himself to make me practise on it before I was allowed to spar with him and Sam. In movies and television hitting and kicking a punch bag looks easy. It's not. The things are hard and heavy, making every kick and punch tiring. Add that to Dean shouting at you when you got something wrong and it made for a very unhappy Bella. Or 'precious' as Dean had taken to mockingly calling me during our little practise sessions.

The week was hard and gruelling, hand to hand, running, weapons training, latin and reading books after books on monsters and all the other things that went bump in the night sure took it out of you.

We worked hard in the day but at night we played hard. We played poker, pool, darts. We sat and drank and talked, we watched movies and generally enjoyed ourselves, I'd never laughed so much in my entire life. Bobby and Sam were normally the first to call it a night and then Dean and me would sit and chat, we'd drink a bit more, eat pie and put the world to rights. It was symoltaniasly the worst and best week of my life.

Day six of staying at Bobby's though and my biggest test yet was upon me. I was sparring with Sam.

We faced each other in Bobby's yard, with Dean and Bobby looking on with beers in hand while they leant against a pile of junk cars. Bobby had warmed to me slightly since my stay here, he'd even started calling me an igit as well. Something that I thought was almost a compliment from the hard faced man.

"Dean, are you sure about this? Maybe we should make her do a few more days of practise before I spar with her. No offence Bells." Sam said as he stood in front of me. No offence was taken, in fact I was more than ready to agree with him. Dean must be crazy to make me fight Sam, he was huge, his muscles straining his t-shirt as he moved. Or maybe Dean just wanted to see me get smacked down, he did have a really odd sense of humour after all.

"B's got this Sammy, don't worry. Or are you scared of being taken by a girl?" Dean mocked from the side lines.

Sam raised his eyebrows and made a half hearted lunge at me. I moved out of the way with a spin while kicking out my leg in a spinning side kick. Dean had said that the move was more for show than actual damage but as it connected Sam stumbled a bit. Making my confidence grow slightly.

Sam turned to face me again, his face with a frown on it. He obviously hadn't expected me to land anything on him, let alone land a kick in the first few seconds.

The tall hunter charged me again, sending a right handed cross to my face. I caught the punch with my left hand and sent a right handed punch back. He yanked his hand out of mine and dodged my punch with ease. He sent a cross to my face which I dodged before sending a body shot to his kidneys. It connected making the hunter bend over, I sent a kick to his head which he rolled onto the floor to avoid.

"Sammy you're having your ass handed to you!" Dean shouted out with glee in his voice.

The taunt seemed to egg Sam on, he came at me fast sending punch after punch at me. I dodged, caught and bobbed out of his way, sending as many punches back as I could. I realised that I wasn't going to touch him with my punches as he caught one after another. He was too good.

So I leant back to avoid one of his huge fists and shot my foot out at the same time in a forward kick. He caught my foot and twisted making me smash into the ground.

As I lay in a pile at his feet I swept my legs across his but he saw the move coming and jumped them. I got up un steadily, being thrown to a hard floor hurt, like hell.

Again Sam lunged at me, I blocked one of his punches while sending one back as fast as I could at the same time. He caught it and sent an elbow to my face that I didn't even see coming. Even if I had he had hold of my wrist I couldn't have got away.

His elbow connected sending shooting stars of pain through my eye socket, the force of it making me crash to the floor for the second time. The world a little blurry.

"B?"

"Bells?"

"Bella!" Three voices called my name from above, but everything was still a little blurry. If this had been real I'd have been dead by now. The realisation made me open my eyes and look up.

"You ok B?" Dean stood above me, Sam and Bobby at his side, everyone looked concerned except for Sam who looked upset.

"I'm good." I said, my words a little on the slurred side. I got to my feet painfully, every bone and muscle in my body protesting at the movement.

"You did good sweetheart." Dean said softly as he led me over to a scrap car and sat me down on the hood. "Can you fetch me some ice?" He asked Bobby who immediately left the makeshift ring Sam and I had been fighting in.

"I didn't, if that was a thunder dome style showdown I'd be dead." I said bitterly, knowing what was really at stake here.

"B, you did ok, really. I thought Sam would have taken you in seconds, you lasted seven minutes." Dean said sounding both surprised and proud, a small smile across his amazing features.

"Yeah Bells, you were brilliant." Sam joined in, regret clear in his voice, he obviously hadn't meant to hurt me.

"Like I said, I'd still have been dead." I replied bluntly seeing Bobby coming back from the corner of my eye.

"What you belly aching about now?" Bobby gruffly said as he passed Dean something before passing me a beer from the cooler he'd brought with him.

"Thanks." I muttered.

"Here put this on." Dean insisted passing me a cloth that was freezing cold, it was wrapped around some ice I was guessing. I pressed it to my sore eye socket, hissing between my teeth as it made contact and burnt.

"Bells was just complaining that she would have been killed if the fight was real." Sam explained as he took a beer off Bobby as well.

"Good thing it wasn't then." Bobby growled out.

"Sweetheart, there's not much out there that's trained in multiple types of martial arts since they could walk, by loads of different people. Besides Sammy here is freakishly big and your almost a midget. You did good." Dean told me before drinking from his beer, his tone soft, his deep voice making my stomach leap and my bones feel like jelly.

Over the last few days those stupid feelings that I'd been having, the ones I'd been desperately trying to ignore had just gotten stronger. I lived for the nights when we sat together drinking, laughing and joking. Every time that I looked at him my heart leapt, when he laughed the noise touched some part in me that I wanted to ignore. When he looked at me my skin scorched and when I looked at him it was all I could do to stop myself from reaching out and touching him.

I was trying with everything that I had to stop these feelings, to stop feeling those warm fuzzy thoughts towards a guy who was fast becoming my best friend. I had to try, I knew he didn't feel like that about me. And unrequited affection sucked, especially when I knew it would make things super awkward if he ever found out how I felt.

"Hey B! You still with us?" Dean said from my side making me snap out of my thoughts with a jump.

"Yeah, sorry." I said smiling at him, and fighting the warm feeling that it gave me when he was so close to me.

"I gave you an insult and ya didn't bite back, you ok?" Dean asked me with a smirk.

"I'm just ignoring you and hoping you go away." I teased back with a smile.

"I've been trying that one for years Bells, trust me it doesn't work." Sam said with a smile.

"Dude, you'd be lost without me." Dean said while giving Sam a shoulder shove.

"Aww..." Bobby said sarcastically with a smile on his face. "You three are gonna make me lose my lunch if you don't stop."

"We love you too Bobby." Sam, Dean and me all said at the same time. That wasn't freaky at all.

"Ok..." Bobby said looking between us and looking a bit freaked out. Not that I blamed him. "I'm gonna make some food." The older hunter mumbled before leaving quickly for the house.

Sam, Dean and me sat in silence with our beers for a few minutes. All of us crowded onto the hood of the scrap car that Dean had sat me on. The metal uncomfortable under my butt. I moved the ice away from my face as it was warming and leaking out of the cloth now. Making it look like I was crying from one eye.

"Jeeze B. You're gonna have one hell of a shiner there." Dean said with concern while taking the ice out of my hand and pressing it gently back against my eye. I watched as his green brown eyes took in every aspect of my face, blushing as he did of course. "You're still beautiful though." Dean whispered shocking me completely.

"What?" I stuttered out. Had he just called me..? I thought he had... Maybe I was losing it.

"What?" Dean said back to me looking shocked as well.

"What?" I asked again, confused now. Maybe I had imagined it after all. After all I was a lot of things, but beautiful wasn't one of them.

"What?" Dean said, but this time the slightest blush touched his face and he looked away from me. He'd obviously not meant to say what he'd said, if he had actually said it at all of course.

I took the ice out of his hand and pressed it back in to my eye, looking away from him. My heart beating frantically and completely confused again.

It took me a few minutes to realise that at some point Sam had left the car and walked back to the house. I wasn't sure when that had happened. When I was this close to Dean every fibre of me was in tune to him and every thing else went ignored. Other people, other friends included. I had to get over my little crush, I had to, I just didn't have any clue as to how.

"I'm gonna go see if the grubs ready." Dean muttered getting up off the car and walking away, his shoulders tense and his muscles bunched together. I watched as he walked away from me, he got twenty paces before his shoulders dropped. "You coming sweetheart?" He called over his shoulder to me with a small smile.

"Sure." I smiled back before jumping off the car. I stumbled a bit as I landed, my depth perception completely off now that I only had one working eye. Dean was next to me in an instant, his hands on my shoulders steadying me, feeling like they burnt against the skin they rested against.

"You ok sweetheart?" He asked me gently as I took the ice pack away from my eye, it was probably safer that way.

"Yeah, thanks. One working eye coupled with clumsiness means that I'm gonna have to work on the stunt act." I smiled trying to hide my embarrassment. Why did I have to act like such a spaz around this gorgeous man all of the time?

Dean's hand rough yet gentle went to my eye, tenderly tracing where the bruise started. "Sorry sweetheart I didn't think Sammy would take it so seriously. I thought he'd go easier on a woman." He said softly to me.

"S'all good." I said, my voice low and surprisingly husky, shivers running up my spine.

Deans eyes traced my lips before he looked into my eyes. Something burned deeply in them, I couldn't figure out what only that I liked it, that it made me tingle in all the right places.

His hand still rested on my face, his fingers curling to cup my cheek. He leant in and my heart stopped as I stood on my tiptoes and leant into him as well.

Our lips were so close that I could feel his sweet breath tickling me. Our eyes locked onto each other, both of us hesitant as we leaned in ever closer. The moment sweeter from the anticipation.

"Foods ready, come and get it ya igits!" Bobby's voice rung out shattering whatever moment we'd been about to have. Dean jerked away from me and coughed out a nervous laugh.

"Good, I'm half starved." He said while turning away from me. I followed behind him as he walked toward the house that was starting to become my home as well. Dean unable to see the hurt and confusion that must have been clear on my face.

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**well, i hope you all enjoyed that, sorry that i left you all hanging again, but that wasnt the right time! it will come eventually i promise ya! so people, let me know what you think, good, bad and all inbetween, i love hearing from you all and it does make me write quicker! until next time, love always tametiger x**


	10. Chapter 10

**hi guys, this has to be a quick update but thanks to all the amazing reviews and favourites and follows that I've received I will be updating tomorrow as well! hope you all enjoy the chapter! as always I own nothing!**

**there is character death in this chapter - hope you don't all hate me too much at the end! **

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Chapter Ten

Weak

We stayed at Bobby's for another five days, I carried on training, giving all I could. I could now shoot at a stationary target with handguns as well as shotguns, the kickback no longer sending me sprawling to the floor. I could also take the guns apart in a couple of minutes, clean them then reassemble them in a dark room. Not yet managing to do it blindfolded like Sam and Dean could. But still for just two weeks worth of training I was reassured that I was doing well.

I could correctly read and pronounce an exorcism, still a while away from doing it from memory though.

I'd carried on working on my hand to hand, paying particular attention to dodging punches and defensive manoeuvres.

But Dean had made sure that we were never alone. Before he'd been doing my hand to hand training alone with me, egging me on and shouting out praise as well as insults. After the almost kiss moment outside though he made sure that either Bobby or Sam were with us all the way through my training. Even the times when I wanted to hit him more than the punch bag, even when romantic thoughts were the last thing on my mind. He still had a buffer between us.

Gone also were the nights when we'd sit up talking about everything and nothing. When we'd laugh and joke together after the others had gone to bed. Dean went with them after my spar with Sam.

It hurt me, more than it should have, it hurt something deep inside of me. And I had no-one to blame but myself. I knew my feelings were unrequited, but still I'd almost forced myself on Dean. And in doing so I'd wrecked one of the best friendships I'd ever had. In short I was stupid and rash. I'd screwed things up. Again.

The last day that we were at Bobby's, things came kind of to a head. The annoyance and hurt that I'd been feeling came bubbling over in a wave that probably wasn't very healthy.

Dean was training with me in my room, or the spare room that I'd been sleeping in anyway. Sam sat on the bed I'd been using, watching every move and every dodge. Dean had been holding focus pads up for me to hit, throwing back a punch every so often that I had to dodge.

"Come on precious, you can hit better than that. Hell Bobby's old dog could hit better than that. I've met six year old's who have packed a better punch." Dean bitched at me, his voice leaking acid, no longer the playful tones that I was so use to. He didn't give out praise anymore, just insults and angry words.

The hurt built up inside of me, a tidal wave behind an ineffectual dam. As the hurt built, as Deans words chipped away at the dam, my punches started waning, started lacking in focus and strength. I knew this, but I didn't know how to rectify it. All I could focus on were the stinging insults that the man was throwing at me. "I thought you didn't want to die, precious. Looks to me like you have a death wish if that's how your going to hold someone off. I can't even feel anything."

"Dean..." Sam said quietly from the bed, his soft tone a quite rebuke.

"What, B's the one that wanted this Sammy, she should step up to it." Dean didn't take his eyes off me as he threw a punch at my face that I only just managed to block. "Look, she's slow, she's sloppy and she's weak." Weak. Weak. All of a sudden the hurt, the words, the jibes, the cruelty. It all focused in me, in one big lump. I felt it strain against my chest, making my head pound and my heart stutter. Then I felt it turn red. Red with anger. Weak?! I'd show this ass weak.

I reached deep inside of myself and shrugged everything off but the anger. I let go of my hurt, of my worry, of my tiredness, I let it all go and let the red flame of anger consume me.

I hit out, remembering to use all of my body weight, remembering to keep my arms up and move my feet around. I hit with all the strength I had in one shot. Dean staggered back slightly with the force. His face becoming tighter and his eyes flashing.

He sent a punch straight back that I bobbed under, twisting while I did so that I wasn't on the back foot, literally. I swung my fist out straight for Dean's face, wanting nothing more than to see that twisted smug grimace wiped off his worn and rugged face. He blocked it, but only just, the force of it once again making him take a step back.

He sent an uppercut to my chin that I only just managed to step away from, now lighter on my feet, the balls of them feeling like they were only just skimming the rough brown carpet under them. "Chin down eyes up precious!" Dean barked at me in a shout.

I saw something move in the doorway out of the corner of my eye. Focusing on it only long enough to establish that it was Bobby and therefore not a threat as I ducked another punch from Dean.

I threw out a combination punch this time, as fast and as hard as I could. Dean lost the little ground that he had gained in his assault on me. I could see the energy seeping from him as my punches were sent with force and on target. His arms looking heavy as he held the pads in front of his face.

"Still not making the grade precious. Still not strong enough. You're still weak. You're still going to get killed!" Dean shouted at me breathlessly.

"Fuck you Dean!" I shouted back jabbing out with my left hand to keep him off balance before sending the hardest, strongest punch that I could with my right, putting everything I had into it, all of my weight and all of my anger. My punch connected and Dean banged heavily into the wall behind him. His breathing coming heavily, his eyes still flashing anger but at the same time I thought I saw a little spark of happiness in the depths of his amazing eyes.

"That's enough!" Bobby barked out as Dean went to stand again and I raised my fists. His words seemed to drain the anger, although not the tension from the room. Leaving the small space feeling even smaller and somehow oppressive.

I dropped my stance and lowered my fists, my breathing ragged and sallow. As though I'd just been on one of Sam's marathon runs.

"What the hell was that?" Bobby said, his voice extremely pissed as he glared from me to Dean and back again. "You're supposed to be training, not kicking the living daylights out of each other! There's enough things out there that want you dead without you giving them a hand." Bobby's statement was met with loaded silence. "Well I'm waiting for an answer, what was that?" He barked at Dean and me again.

"I was pissed and took it out on him. Sorry won't happen again." I said, my voice small and slightly hesitant.

"What's your excuse? That time of the month?" Bobby barked at Dean.

"Just wanted to make sure she's ready, that's all." Dean said with a shrug while pulling off his focus pads. His hands red raw from my onslaught.

"For what? A one on one with a Ninja?" Bobby asked, the anger still present in his deep growl.

"For whatever's round the corner." Dean said his voice slightly weary now.

"You looked like you were about to kill each other!" Sam joined in telling us off and making me feel like I had been sent to the principals office for being a naughty kid.

"Whatever, I'm getting a beer." Dean muttered before pushing past Bobby and heading out of the room. His shoulders bunched up, his muscles tense and a slight pulsing to his jaw that made him look even more angry than he was.

Sam and Bobby exchanged glances before both looking at me and making me feel really uncomfortable.

"Bells..." Sam started saying, his tone letting me know that he was about to tell me just how disappointed he was in me. Sam had been another best friend to me recently, he'd joked with me, trained with me, sat and had heart to hearts with me, which Dean called chick flick moments. And I couldn't stand having him tell me just how upset he was by me for wanting to kill his older brother. The only family he had left.

"You saw him Sam, you heard him. Anyone would have cracked under that. He was wrong and you know it. So don't start any of that you should rise above it shit." I snapped, I was right and I didn't need anyone being pissed at me. Not after the last few days. Enough was enough and I'd had it. "I'm going for a drink." I declared leaving the room in exactly the way Dean had done five minutes before. My muscles stiffening now, my jaw clenching together and the blood still rushing around my body the way it always did after a good fight.

I marched down the threadbare stairs, my hand brushing the old wooden banister. I walked straight into the kitchen and opened the fridge. The only drink was beer, and right now I needed something stronger. I looked around the kitchen, knowing that there would be something, my eyes taking in a half full bottle of whiskey. That would do the job nicely, I thought as I took it and headed out into the mild air outside. Needing more than anything to be alone right now. To calm down and have a good cry. Something I wouldn't be letting the men see, they'd think it was another sign of my weakness.

I walked through Bobby's yard, past mountain after mountain of scrap cars that seemed to hem me in. Not thinking of where I was going as I took sip after sip of the burning whiskey. Feeling better as the alcohol started warming my stomach and damping the fire that had been blazing in me since I'd let it go in my room.

I turned a corner while taking a sip of my drink, feeling slightly better now, lighter, more free, happier as the whiskey worked its magic on me.

I entered a little clearing in the forest of dead cars, the space familiar somehow, and decided that this would do for a little while. That is till I saw Dean sat on the hood of the scrap car, a cooler full of beer at his feet. I knew why this was so familiar now, this was the place where the anger, resentment, hurt and every other crap thing had started days ago. This was where Sam and I had fought, this was the place where I'd tried to kiss Dean.

I turned on my heel walking back the way I came. I'd find a different spot. Away from the person who had been doing his best to avoid me, to avoid being alone with me for the last few days.

"B, wait!" Deans voice echoed behind me, loud but unsure. As though he wanted to speak to me, but didn't at the same time. As though he was battling with two sides of himself. He really was Dr Jekel and Mr Hyde at times. Two different people, unfortunately I liked them both, I just wished he'd pick one and stick with it. Though admittedly I did wish he'd go with the friendlier, playful one.

"What?" I asked him, my back still on him.

"Since when do you drink whiskey straight from the bottle?" Dean asked me, his voice lighter but sounding resigned somehow. As though he was doing something he thought that he'd regret.

I'd been drinking with the brothers and Bobby. But I had no tolerance for alcohol and I was still underage, so I'd been having maybe one or two beers a night at the maximum and making it last me before switching to coffee. It was probably healthier that way.

"Since I decided that beer just wasn't going to cut it right now." I replied, my voice holding a hard edge to it that I couldn't get rid of. The anger although diminished was still there under the surface, bubbling and waiting to come back out to play. Completely different to how I'd have been only just two weeks ago. Dean had been right, this whole thing was changing me. And I'd not even been hunting yet. I just hoped that I'd change for the better.

"B..." Dean said softly behind me. I turned to face him, wanting to hear what he'd say, what he could possibly say.

He faltered as he looked at my face, his own features crowded with indecision about something, indecision and a frown.

I stood for a minute longer, wanting to hear what he had to say, but the silence just stretched on. So I turned to walk away again, the idea of being alone with me and talking to me was obviously too much for the jerk to handle. "Bella, I'm sorry." Dean said, his words rushed, blurted out, obviously apologising wasn't something that the man was use to doing.

"What for?" I asked with a shrug, as though I wasn't bothered, as though his words meant nothing. But they did, especially as I could hear how hard they were for him to say.

"For being a jerk." Dean said, a small smirk on his face as I faced him yet again. His eyes were staring at the floor, his face open for once.

"Fine." I said, my voice still hard even though I didn't want it to be. I had no control now, not like I ever did when he was near to me.

"I just..." Dean trailed off, his expression one of pain and confusion.

"Just what?" I asked, genuinely interested to know what he was going to say. Wondering if he was about to give me an explanation as to why he'd been ignoring me for the last few days.

Dean sighed and his features hardened again, for some reason, unlike his brother, Dean couldn't open up. He couldn't share with other people. "Sammy's so much better with these chick flick moments than I am." He muttered, making me smile a bit. His eyes brightening as I did.

"B, I'm sorry, ok. Shouldn't have goaded ya like I did. I just don't want to see you get hurt. I don't want to see someone I... Like. A friend, die. We've lost too many people. Don't want that for you too sweetheart." Dean told me, his voice still hard as he struggled to spit those words out.

My shoulders dropped instantly, feeling lighter than they had for days. I hated the hold that the man had over me, and I'd rather eat glass than admit just how big a hold that was, but there was nothing I could do about it. I'd tried. I'd tried ignoring him like he'd done with me, I'd tried avoiding him, I'd tried getting angry with the dick, I'd done everything I could think of to rid myself of these feelings, but so far nothing had worked and every new part of him that I got to know, everything new thing I learnt about the man, just made that hold slightly harder, slightly stronger.

"You're not bad to have around sweetheart, you sure make things interesting at any rate. And I'd hate to have to have an emotional one on one with Sammy if you were ganked while we were suppose to be looking out for you. So I got a bit tough. Sorry." Dean carried on, every word making me feel better till I was almost smiling.

"You do know that it isn't your job to look out for me right? You're helping me out, training with me, helping me look for Charlie, taking me in. But it's not your job to protect me or whatever bull you're saying. That's no-ones but my own now. I owe you guys, not the other way around." I told Dean softly, still meters away from him, but my body reacting to his words automatically as my body language became more relaxed as his did.

"Yeah, well call it a force of habit sweetheart." Dean said before drinking down his beer. I took another sip of the whiskey, a large one that burnt my insides as it went down, but made the happy feeling even better.

I made my way over to the scrap car that he was sat on, wanting to sit down as well. He shifted along, making room for me on the uncomfortable metal top.

We sat together in a comfortable silence for a little while, just drinking and staring out in front of us. His body heat seeming to warm me as much as the whiskey, my body aware that he was just an inch or two apart from me.

A question popped into my head, that was spinning a little from the whiskey, and no thanks to the amber liquor it came straight out of my mouth before I'd even thought it through properly.

"Dean why've you been mad with me?" I asked, my voice holding the tiniest slur as my head spun faster.

"I haven't sweetheart." Dean said sounding confused from next to me, but it sounded like he was putting it on. Like he knew exactly what I was talking about but wasn't going to spill.

"Yeah you have. You've made sure that we haven't been alone and you've been getting mad with me. And I miss you, I miss sitting and talking to you." I said, a frown on my face as the words came pouring out, not able to stop the flow even though I wanted to.

Dean didn't reply, he just looked at me as he clutched his new beer bottle in his hand and drank deeply from it. My eyes watching as his lips wrapped themselves around the bottle top, as he swallowed and the way that his tongue licked them as he pulled the bottle away, catching any left over drops of the alcohol. My body hummed as I watched him, my heart stuttering, heat that had nothing to do with the whiskey pooling at the pit of my stomach. I wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch him. But I wouldn't, I couldn't, I'd just sit and enjoy the view, enjoy the slow torture that watching Dean was.

"I'd like to see you spar with Sam now sweetheart, those were some moves back there." Dean said starting back up a conversation, the words sounded forced, a slight croak to his voice that he coughed away as he sat still looking at my face.

"Thanks, I'm learning from the best apparently." I said back with a smile.

"Damn straight you are." Dean smirked at me, his eyes brightening as I smiled at him.

I rolled my eyes but let out a giggle anyway. "So what's the plan for tonight then?" I said after I took a mouthful of the whiskey, looking up from under my lashes at the tall guy as I did.

Something immediately changed, my words having an effect on the atmosphere around us. Deans eyes glazed ever so slightly and he shifted uncomfortably on the car. I had no idea what I'd done this time.

"What do you want to do B?" Dean asked me, his voice soft with something else in it that I couldn't work out. Hope maybe?

"I don't know, we could play cards?" I suggested thoroughly confused by the way the conversation was turning.

Dean shifted again, crossing his legs and putting his beer in his lap, his eyes lightening up with a joke that was his own. "Sure B. We'll have a couple of games of cards. Though you know I'll stomp ya." Dean teased me, back to himself, back to the Dean who was my best friend again.

"Whatever D, I think you'll find that I've won three more games than you, that makes me winner and you loser." I winked at him while giggling a little.

"For the minute, but tonight sweetheart, you're going down!" Dean teased me right back, the words leaving his mouth before something crossed his face and he shifted uncomfortably again.

"You got itching powder in your boxers or something?" I asked with a laugh, remembering what Dean had told me about his and Sam's prank wars. The idea that Sam was pranking him right now seeming hilarious and made me laugh a bit harder.

"Or something." Dean muttered but his face was covered with a smile as he watched me laugh on the hood of the old Mustang that we had parked ourselves on. "You ever played any pranks B?" Dean asked me.

"Yeah when I was little I played pranks on my friend Jake and his sisters." I started saying, Dean watching me with a small smile on his face and hanging on to my every word.

We spoke for what felt like hours, exchanging story's and anecdotes, laughing uproariously and drinking together. Dean told me all about putting Nair in Sam's shampoo and I told him about gluing down things around Jake's room, including gluing his closet door shut. He told me about his Christmas rituals, and I told him about mine, neither or which were much to write home about. We spoke about birthdays, schooling, field trips, bus rides and meals. Our conversation never ceasing, our smiles rarely fading and the sounds of our laughter mingling and surrounding us with happiness.

"There you are." Sam said making us both jump a little, we were so wrapped up in our conversation that we hadn't heard or seen him walk over to us.

"Hey Sammy, you want a beer?" Dean asked, picking one up and offering it to his little brother.

"No thanks man. Bobby wants us." Sam's words were slightly clipped, his tone telling us that this was going to be a business meeting.

"What's happened?" Dean asked, his voice harder as he got down from the car and picked up the cooler. I followed, hopping down from the car, swaying a little as I touched the ground. Dean instantly wrapping his free arm around me to stop me from wobbling.

Sam looked from me to Dean, Dean withdrew his arm and started walking back towards the house. Sam and I following in his wake.

"I don't know, he was talking to someone on the phone, he hung up and said that I better find you two." Sam told us.

"Yeah he's a regular chatty Cathy alright." Dean muttered walking faster now. I was almost jogging to keep up, the guys had long legs and every stride for them was three for me.

We were back home in a matter of minutes, walking straight into the house and continuing into the study without braking stride. Bobby was sat behind his desk, looking at something on a laptop, his face creased into a frown.

"What's up Bobby?" Dean asked the older man as he sat himself down on the comfy couch to the side of the hunters desk. I perched next to him as Sam sat on the arm nearest to me. My heart had started up a worrying pounding as I panicked slightly. Maybe he'd found Charlie? Maybe he'd found Charlie and things weren't good. What if dad was hurt, or worse?

"I've got a hit. Charlie was last seen in Arizona, he was looking for some people." Bobby said closing the laptop and looking seriously at the brothers and me.

Arizona? I'd worked out instantly who he was looking for. "Renée and Phil?" I asked softly, even more worried now. Why was my dad looking for my mum, they hadn't spoken in the two years that I'd been living with my dad, hell I hadn't spoken to them in that long either.

"You know 'em?" Bobby asked me sounding surprised.

"Yeah, that's my mum and my step dad." I announced.

Bobby looked really worried for a second, his face clouding over with hurt and pain and sympathy. I knew what was coming, I could feel it in every bone. But I couldn't prepare for it, I couldn't harden myself to it.

"Bella." Bobby started saying in the softest voice that I'd ever heard him use.

"He found them didn't he?" I asked, my voice wobbling, my world feeling like it was coming apart at the seams.

"Yeah he did." Bobby said still softly. He took a deep breath before speaking again. "Bella, they were dead."

I'd known it was coming, I'd known it, I'd felt it. But it still cut, it still sliced through everything. They were gone. My mum was gone.

"How?" I asked in a voice no louder than a whisper as I felt Dean tense up next to me.

"I don't think..." Bobby wasn't going to tell me. What did he think, that I didn't deserve to know? Did he think that I wouldn't be imagining horrible, terrible things if he didn't tell me? I needed to know. Call it a morbid curiosity.

"How Bobby?" I asked again, my voice louder and stronger now.

"Looks like it was demons." Bobby said, his voice still soft, his face still sympathetic.

Something inside of me cracked, some part of me that hadn't been touched by all this supernatural rubbish gave way. My mom, my sweet, erratic, hair brained mom had been killed by this crap.

"Why?" I asked, wanting to know why, needing to know how she'd gotten herself involved in all this stuff.

"I don't know..." Bobby said, looking as though he was warring with two parts of himself. Whatever he didn't want to tell me I wanted to know. I needed too. I needed to know every little part of how and why this had happened. Why my life was falling away from me, why everything was crashing down.

"Bobby just tell me." I said growling out the sentence.

"They, the demons, we think they were looking for something." Bobby said while shooting the brothers glances, whatever they were looking for I knew Bobby wouldn't tell me. It was harder to get something out of him if he didn't want to give it up than Fort Knox.

"Who's we?" I asked, not really caring now. All I could think of, all I could see, was my mothers happy face, her warm caring embrace.

"I've got some people looking out for your dad. One of them looked into Renee's death when he saw Charlie sniffing round it. Rang me five minutes ago." Bobby explained for me.

Silence descended on us and I felt the walls closing in on me. I needed to get out. I needed to get away from the sympathetic and pitying looks, as well as the worried looks, the looks that seemed to be waiting for me to crack. I needed to run, to get away from everything. Irrationally I had a thought that if I ran hard enough that I could find my mom and bring her back. That none of this would have happened, that she'd still be in Phoenix safe and sound, Phil would be by her side and that they'd laugh at how silly I'd been.

I got up, my legs feeling shaky under me. All eyes were on me as I walked from the room, through the kitchen and out of the house. My only thought, getting away, finding somewhere safe. Finding something familiar. Running until it didn't hurt anymore. Till the pain that ripped through my chest had gone. Till the lump in my throat that was choking me had vanished.

As soon as my feet were on the ground of Bobby's yard I ran. I ran faster than I ever had, not noticing where I was going, not caring. Trying desperately to out run the crushing feeling that was baring down on me. All that I could see were images of my mum running with me. Her and Phil on their wedding day, her laughing at a joke, mum holding out her arms to me. Telling me she loved me and that everything would be ok.

As soon as that hit me my legs gave way and I crashed to the floor. Sobs shook my body and tore my throat. Tears pounded my face and every bit of me that could feel felt the loss and pain of my loving mother completely. Every inch of me willing it to not be true. But it was, I knew that, I could feel that deep inside of me. I saw it in the way Bobby had looked at me. Hear it in his soft voice. My mother was gone. I'd never have that chance to hear her say she loved me again. I'd never tell her that I loved her. I'd never have to listen to Phil talking about baseball and pretend I cared again. My eyes grew puffy, my throat becoming hoarse with the sobs that had taken me over. My limbs shaking had started to burn and my body felt like lead.

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I will update tomorrow night I promise, but I've gotta be at work in six hours and I havent slept yet! reviews would be awesome please! :) hope you enjoyed it and don't hate me too much for killing Renee and Phil, it's all for a greater purpose - I promise! love always tametiger! xx


	11. Chapter 11

**here it is, as promised :) second chapter, thank you all for the great reviews! as always I own nothing Hope yoiu enjoy!**

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Chapter Eleven

Lead On

I heard three sets of heavy footsteps coming my way, I'd been out here for what felt like days, but was probably only an hour or two. I was numb with grief. I couldn't have moved even if I had wanted to. Memories of my mom and Phil kept assaulting me, pictures and videos playing in my head every time I closed my eyes. Words spoken, secrets kept, secrets hidden, lies told. Everything, love, regret, resentment it was all hitting me at the same time. But the biggest feeling to hit me was denial, I couldn't, didn't believe that two of the brightest sparks that I knew on the planet had suddenly vanished from it.

"Bella?" A tentative voice came from above me, soft and gentle, caring and warm. Three boot clad feet were stood in front of my face. I hadn't noticed there arrival and wondered how long they'd been stood there while I was thinking of Renee and Phil.

"Bella?" The voice asked again, a little more insistent this time, a note of worry encased in my name.

"Hi." I said, my throat raw from the crying, my word hoarse and sore.

"Bells, come back inside." Sam said, very gently but with a slightly firm edge to the command.

"M'ok." I said, glad that someone was taking charge, glad that someone was telling me what to do. If only he would tell me how to feel as well that would've been perfect. I got very shakily to my feet, my muscles sore from the hard floor, yet also feeling like jelly. An odd combination which added to the spinning of my head.

Big rough hands gripped the top of my arms softly and started forcing me to walk back towards the house. My eyes were burning with the pain of shedding so many tears, my vision blurry from the water clogging it that I was trying desperately to see through.

I wondered what would be happening with Renee and Phil's funerals? Who would be dealing with that? Would I be doing it? Or some friends? Had they made wills telling people what they wanted? My mother of two years ago wouldn't have been that forward planning, but Phil was responsible and level headed, perhaps he'd have thought this through?

We walked back to the house in silence. Well we might have done, the guys might have been talking but I was out of it. Numb with shock and grief. They might have put on clown costumes and been reciting my last rights and I wouldn't have noticed. But I thought that we did walk in silence.

When we got back to the house I was pushed gently back into the sofa and a glass of something was pushed into my hand. I took it and drank. It burnt, it made me feel something, it hurt me but I was feeling something through the grief, I thought that was probably a good thing even if it was only physical pain.

"Brandy, it's good for the shock. We'll keep 'um coming." Bobby growled from in front of me. I looked up and around me, taking in something that wasn't in my head for a minute. Sam sat one side of me, looking worried and concerned, he looked as though he might cry for me at any second. Dean was to the other side of me, he also looked close to tears but there was slight anger in his features as well as remorse and concern. Bobby had pulled his chair directly in front of me, he was watching me with a hawks eye, his face older and sympathetic. His features showed that he'd known the pain that I felt and hated that I was going through it. All the men seemed to be empathetic towards me. Maybe this was what was meant when they'd said that I'd have to watch people I loved die.

"What can I do?" I asked after a while of sitting and drinking the painful brandy that tasted awful and smelt worse.

"You can carry on drinking that for the minute." Dean said, no hint of sarcasm in his voice, he was serious. But I'd been gripped with the overwhelming urge to do something, to be helpful, to be on the go. To help. But I didn't know how, I didn't know what I could do. I didn't know what there was to do.

"After that, what can I do? What do I do? There must be something?" I asked, my voice still hoarse and quite.

"We can go and see them if you want? Tomorrow?" Sam said in a low voice.

I nodded. "I'd like that." I said, tears forming and shedding again. Deans hand reached out and took mine, giving it a small squeeze as he did. It gave me a tiny bit of comfort, something solid in a world that seemed more nightmare than reality right now.

"What did your mom do Bella?" Bobby asked me, sounding like he really wanted to hear it.

"She was a kindergarden teacher. She always joked about how it suited her perfectly because they were on the same level as her." I told the older man with a slight smile, the tears still flowing.

"What was she like?" Dean asked me, also sounding interested in the answer.

And so it continued long into the night. I spoke about my mom and Phil, told the hunters stories which made them laugh and me smile with remembered fondness. They kept asking me questions, always sounding like they were eager to know the answers. They kept me going that night when all I felt like doing was curling up in a ball and just giving up.

At some point I fell asleep, a deep sleep where videos of my mum ran round my head and made me feel safe, warm and happy.

I woke with a gnawing pit in my stomach that I couldn't quite place for a few minutes. For a few blissful minutes I was oblivious, I was just camped out on the sofa, laid across both Dean and Sam who were both sleeping soundly. I was happy, I was contented, warm and safe.

Then I remembered. I remembered why I had a hole in my heart and lead in my stomach. Why my face was puffy and my eyes sore, why my throat was rough and scratchy. Two of my family had gone from the world. As soon as I remembered the tears started flowing again. The knowledge like a punch to the gut. Remembering felt almost as bad as finding out all over again.

A hand stroked my hair, another wrapping around my shoulders and a soft whisper caressed me as it sounded out. "Ssshhh... Its ok. It'll all be ok." It wasn't ok though. It would never be ok again. I needed to find out why this had happened, needed to know what had done this. And I needed to end whatever it was that had caused this. Needed to kill it with my own hands.

I'd never killed anything. Ever. But as a white hot anger gripped me, anger for my mother, for my step father, I wanted to kill. I wanted kill whatever supernatural being had done this. I wanted revenge and I wanted to do it myself. As rage gripped me my tears dried up and the hands which had been comforting stilled their efforts.

I sat up, brushing the tears off my face and the hair out of my eyes. "How you doing B?" Dean asked me, his eyes racking me wearily, his voice still soft and comforting.

"I just wanna get there. See for myself." I muttered, my throat thick with the aftermath of the tears and my voice still hoarse from crying and sobbing.

"We'll go soon." Dean said with a nod. Still looking at me, for what I didn't know.

~0~

We'd been on the road for over a full day now and the guys were trying really hard. But that was the thing, I didn't want them to try, I wanted them to be their normal, sometimes annoying, selves with me.

Dean was talking in a voice that sounded like I was on my deathbed everytime he spoke to me. He kept reassuring me that everything would be ok, that things would get better and all those other clichés. Sam kept looking at me with sad puppy dog eyes and inquiring as to how I was. Every mile or so. Bobby was ringing the guys on the hour every hour asking how I was holding up and wanting to talk to me. Don't get me wrong, I was grateful, more than grateful but the whole act was starting to grate on me big time.

"If people keep asking me if I'm ok I'm gonna start throwing punches!" I bit out after Bobby's twelfth phone call. "No, I'm not ok. But I'm dealing, I appreciate you guys caring. But the whole look after Bella thing is creeping me out. Can't we just be us?" Sam had turned in his seat to look at me with raised eyebrows but Dean was studying me shrewdly through the rear view mirror.

"Fine B." Dean said with a small smile as he looked at me, going straight back to looking at the road and turning up the music.

"We're just worried about you Bells." Sam told me, the tiniest bit of hurt coming through in his voice.

"I know and I appreciate it, I do. But everytime you speak its in low mournful voices. It just reminds me that someone's died. Everytime you ask me if I'm ok, all I can think is no. I need you guys to be normal with me. You're freaking me out slightly, not one of you's been mean to me in over twenty four hours. And I don't like it." I said, letting a smile into my voice as I joked at the end of my little monologue.

"Sorry, we'll go back to being asses to you then!" Sam said with a smile, catching on.

After my little outburst the rest of the drive was more bearable. We sang along to songs, stopped for food, but mostly we just drove in silence. Which was much more preferable than being taken care of in an almost patronising fashion.

Eventually the scenery started getting familiar. Long desert roads stretched in front of us. Cacti that I recognised popped up and as the city grew ever nearer I sat up straighter in the back seat.

The city streets started flying past, tall structures and familiar buildings hemming us in after the sparse landscape we'd been travelling for the past few hours.

"I hate cities." Dean muttered as the traffic started thickening and he had to loosen up on the gas peddle.

"I love the city, and I love this heat!" I said with a wistful smile, pulling off my long sleeve shirt as I did.

"Yeah the heat thing I could live with." Dean replied with a wolfish smile through the back mirror that for some reason had me blushing.

"Left here." I said as we passed one of the tributary roads that lead to the street where I'd grown up. A knot started forming in the pit of my stomach and I felt slightly light headed. Dean and Sam exchanged glances before Dean turned the music off and looked through the rear view mirror at me.

"You sure about this B? I can turn around." He asked me in a soft but gruff voice after clearing his throat.

"Yes. I'm sure." I answered my words sounding loud in the now almost silent car.

"Ok then." Dean said as he pulled into the street where I'd lived for sixteen years of my life. Memories assaulted me as they had the last time I'd been here. Memories so strong that as we stopped outside the house I was surprised and saddened when I didn't see my mom under the apple tree in the front yard laughing and smiling to see me coming home, waiting to hear about the newest scrape I'd gotten myself into. Waiting to tell me about her newest hair brained scheme. Instead the front yard was empty, sad looking and lonely. A pit opened up in my stomach, the knot that had formed the only thing that was stopping me from falling head first into the pit.

I sat just looking at the modest house that was so familiar yet changed by time. The exterior was no longer a bright cheerful yellow but a subtle magnolia, where once was a border filled with half decaying plants was now a flourishing flower bed. Phil's influence on the house was obviously as positive as it had been on my mom.

I got out of the car and walked to the front door in a daze. This couldn't be right. It looked so ordinary, so normal. This couldn't be where Phil and Renee had been murdered. Someone must have got that bit wrong. Maybe they'd got it all wrong? But from the pit in my stomach, from that bleak empty feeling, I knew deep down that it was true. They weren't with us anymore.

Dean and Sam stood either side of me as I took out my key with a shaking hand. As I fit the key in the lock I turned to face them. "I want to go in alone." I said in a much calmer voice then I thought I could have managed.

"Bells do you think that's such a good idea?" Sam asked me in his calm, soft voice, his eyes widening into this puppy dog expression that almost had me agreeing with him.

"Probably not, no. But I need a few minutes. Please." I requested, it didn't feel right to have these guys going through stuff and looking for whatever before I'd had a chance to say goodbye to the place I'd grown up. To see for my own eyes that this had happened here.

"You got seven minutes, then we're right behind you sweetheart. Shout us if..." Dean trailed off apparently not able to find the right words, but I knew what he meant. I gave him a wan smile as a thank you before unlocking the door and stepping through. Closing the door behind me as I did.

It was silent inside, the hallway empty and noiseless, not even a ticking of a clock sounded out. Just my own laboured breathing echoed back at me.

I walked through the hallway into the family room, my footsteps sounding too loud and clumsy, my heart beating fiercely.

The family room was the first sign that something terrible had happened here. As I entered it the hairs on the back of my neck lifted away from my skin, a shiver of foreboding and a wave of nausea passed over me.

There was a faded bloodstain on the soft beige carpet in the center of the room. Someone had obviously tried to clean it up to no avail. It was the size of a dustbin lid and I was surprised and sickened to see that someone could still be alive after losing that much blood. But they had still been alive, as the blood trailed off from the room and into the far end of the hallway where the stairs were situated. A grim bread crumb trail for me to follow.

I followed the path as quietly as I could, the empty house making every footstep sound like a cannon blast and every breath like a seventy mile an hour gust of wind. The house seemed to close in on me as I walked up the stairs quietly and cautiously. I had this horrible, ominous feeling with every step I took. As though something would jump out of the dark shadows that lined the upper corridor and try to recreate the atrocity that had happened here.

Bile rose in my throat as I reached the top set of stairs and saw a bloody hand print smeared across the wall. No-one had even tried to clean it off. The hand print was a similar size to mine. My mothers bloody hand print. She had run up here, scared, probably terrified, from an unknown attacker. Perhaps looking for Phil, perhaps looking for safety, for somewhere to hide. I was seeing my mothers last few moments through her dried blood. I swallowed the bile and stopped for a second, undecided as to whether I could carry on or not.

I took a deep breath and pushed on, knowing that in the dead of the night I'd regret not carrying on if I didn't. Also knowing that these images would be permernantly seared into my brain for the rest of my life. I needed to know though, I owed it to my mother to know.

I treaded the same path my mother had, seeing where it was going, my heart in my throat and a dry sob choking me. Sure enough the gruesome trail led me into my old room. The room I'd had since I was one. The door was closed, a sticky red residue on the doorknob which had the bile burning my throat as I touched it.

I swung the door open and let out a small unbelieveing gasp. Every new thing that I saw had me losing what little strength that I had left. Eventually I sank to the floor just inside my bedroom door.

Minutes later and two steps of footsteps followed by hushed, deep voices echoed from the downstairs. It didn't take them long to follow the path that I had, the one that led them directly to me. And the horror waiting.

"Jesus!"

"Son of a bitch!"

The guys stood looking at the room which I couldn't take my eyes off for a moment before entering. They carefully studied the room, taking in the things that I already had, my recent training telling me things I could've gone a life time without knowing.

"Somethings wrong here." Sam muttered to Dean after a minute, his voice travelling clearly through the otherwise silent room.

"Dude, yeah, I got that." Dean answered in distaste, his eyes briefly glancing at me, empathy clearly in them.

"No Dean I mean if this was demons..." Sam started saying.

"Then where's the sulphur and why did they tear my mom apart limb by limb?" I asked, already coming to the conclusion that he had minutes before that. I wished with everything I had I hadn't asked them to train me, that I hadn't known what I knew because of that. I wished that I hadn't started to evaluate the room as a crime scene, hadn't started to look at the blood splatters to see exactly how my mother had been killed.

"C'mon sweetheart." Dean said stepping towards me and offering me a hand. I took it gratefully, glad of even a little bit of comfort right now.

Dean led me by the hand back downstairs and out of the house to the Impala. Sam followed us, none of us saying a word.

Just before we hit the Impala I turned around and threw up the meagre contents of my stomach onto the neatly manicured lawn. Dean was behind me in an instant holding my hair back and rubbing my tense shoulders. A kindness I wouldn't have expected from the man.

I straitened up after a minute or two, my stomach now emptied of all of its contents. My cheeks flamed and I stared at the ground, embarrassed at my lack of self control. At the fact that I'd made myself look so weak in front of them. I'd seen my first body, not even body, just blood splatters and instead of being strong, of showing that I could be an asset, that I was going to be good at this, instead of that, here I was hurling my cookies onto the floor.

"Here Bells." Sam called, I turned just in time to catch a bottle of water and a pack of mints, blushing even more furiously as I did. "Happens to us all the time." Sam said with a nod towards my shame on the floor. The fact that he had the water and mints to hand, and the complete understanding in his voice led me to believe that Sam was telling me the truth. And if they threw up on a regular basis, or even semi regular, if they saw things that made that a reflex, then how the hell was I going to cope with this?

"C'mon let's get a motel and some food. Trust me you'll feel better after something greasy, a beer or two and some sleep." Dean said with hand in the small of my back and a gentle smile on his handsome face.

"Not everyone's you Dean!" Sam said in a harsh voice looking at his brother with annoyance. "Bella might want to talk about things."

"Erm... Thanks and everything, but I really don't. Not yet anyway." I managed to mutter out. No way did I want to talk about what was going on in my head right now.

Dean gave Sam a smug smile before leading me to the car once more. Just before we got in he turned to face me, a serious expression on his face. "We are here if you need anything B." He started sincerely. "But if you toss your cookies in my car you'll be in here cleaning it till she looks brand new." He added, his expression and tone telling me that he probably wasn't joking.

A smile rose to my face briefly, I couldn't help it. I rolled my eyes and climbed into the car drinking my water down before popping a couple of mints. Trying to ignore the feeling that I had in my stomach; mostly grief, anger and a deep sadness, but something like hope in there too.

~0~

I woke to the sound of something fairly unusual. Sam and Dean were arguing in hushed voices. Sure the brothers argued, but normally in a playful way, neither really caring about the outcome of the argument and both of them almost always smiling while they did it. But this was different. They were actually arguing, I had a feeling that if I wasn't asleep or in the room then they would have been shouting at each other. Their whispers were harsh and I could tell by the way their voices filtered over to me that they weren't stood very far apart from each other. I shut my eyes again and tried to go back to sleep, wanting to give them a bit of privacy. That is until I heard my name anyway.

"We've got to tell Bella the truth Dean."

"No we haven't. You don't think she's been through enough already? You want to lump this on her too, how d'ya think she'll take it? You think that's something she can just talk about, open up about and she'll be all good?" Deans words were harsh, his voice rising slightly.

"Bells isn't as weak as you think she is Dean. She'll cope." Sam said back, sounding like he was trying to calm down slightly.

"I don't think she's weak dude. I think she's got enough to be dealing with."

Sam interrupted Dean. "Man, she will be safer if she knows. She'll be on the look out." He sounded like he was almost pleading with his older brother.

"She's safe anyway. We're looking after her."

"And what about when we can't look after her? What about when we eventually find Charlie?" Sam said.

"Then Charlie can look after her, B will still be safe and she won't have any more shit to deal with. She's safe and happy, our jobs are done." Dean sounded insistent, if I were Sam I'd just back down cause it was obvious Dean wasn't going to.

"Whatever dude, I'm going to get some coffee." Sam gave in, his voice frustrated and angry.

I feigned sleep again after I heard the soft click of the door, my mind whirling. What were they keeping from me? What was it about? Did Dean really just think of me as a job? Did Sam?

I couldn't help the flow of tears that came steadily running out of my eyes. Despite what I'd been thinking the last few days I was alone. All alone. My dad had done a bunk, I had no friends, my mom was dead. I was alone in the world, and not even my world anymore but some freaky supernatural world. I was drowning here. And there was no-one that could save me this time.

I felt a weight settle next to me on the bed and kept my eyes tightly closed, the tears would give me away but I didn't care. I was one step away from saying fuck it and just giving in. My life had crashed down around my ears and I didn't know what to do. This is not the way it was suppose to be. Not at nineteen. Maybe I should have listened to Sam or Dean when they told me I should go to school and live a normal life. I'd be dead in weeks, but did that really matter? I mean what was I living for now anyway? Revenge? That wouldn't end well, I knew that, and the red mist of anger that had gripped me yesterday was now just a low flame. What could I really do about it?

"I know I'm not good with the whole chick flick moments like Samantha there, but if you wanna talk about your mom or something then I'll listen." Dean told me from next to me on the bed. His words, while sounding heart felt, were an act, I knew that now. Knew I was just another job to him. Someone to keep safe until he could pawn me off on someone else who didn't want me.

"I'm alone now. That's the terrifying thing you know." I said after a few minutes of silence. I turned to face the hunter.

"You're not alone B. You've got Sammy and you've got... You've got me." Dean said, looking deeply into my eyes, trying to convey something with his brown, green eyes that I just wasn't getting.

"No I haven't. I'm alone. You and Sam, I'm a job to you, as soon as we find Charlie, who by the way left me to deal with all this on my own, you'll leave. I don't have any one. Not really." I said while sitting up. Finally giving into my misery.

"You're not just a job to me Bella. I wish to god you were but you're not." Dean said his voice almost angry his eyes never leaving mine. My heart leapt more in surprise than hope. I knew this was just another act. I'd heard him, I knew I was just another job to him. I'd heard him say it.

"Dean I'm just another person who's got themselves in too deep and you have to watch out for. Don't worry I get it, but do me a favour ok, don't pretend that you care more than you do. Don't make out that we're best friends when you obviously don't give a damn." That had been what had hurt me most. I'd thought, I really had thought, that Dean was one of the best friends I'd ever had. A bit bi-polar, but still.

"Bella! For gods sake!" Dean shouted getting angry. "Don't you see?"

"See what!?" I asked shouting as well, I wasn't entirely sure why though. All I knew was I wanted something from him that I knew he couldn't give. I wanted him to be my friend, I wanted him to tell me he'd be there for me. That he wouldn't leave me. That I'd never be alone again. But he wouldn't, he couldn't.

"See this!" Dean shouted before grabbing my face in both of his hands and bringing his lips down to mine.

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**well... there it was - well kind of anyway! what did you all think? good, bad, let me know please! :) i'm going to try and get another two chapters out on sunday! Reviews make me write faster though! :) love always tametiger x**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi guys! thankyou all so, so much for your reviews! I've had a brilliant response! Sorry about how left the last chap, but I've got to keep you wanting more every now and then! ok, so enjoy this chap! :)**

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Chapter Twelve

Ride The Wave

His lips came crashing down to mine, moving softly and insistently, his hands gripping my face gently. For a moment I was too shocked to do anything. Then suddenly I was kissing him back, my lips were moving with his, my hands went to his broad shoulders moving us in closer together. His tongue brushed against my lips silently asking for entrance that I gladly gave. Our tongues danced together, caressing and moving softly, sweetly. He ended the kiss with a soft, chase press of his lips against mine, his hands stroking my cheek bones.

We moved apart, our eyes locked on each other, trying to gauge the others reaction to what had just happened.

"I'm not just another job to you then?" I asked sheepishly as I realised that I was going to have to be the first one that spoke.

"Like I said, I wish you were sweetheart." Dean told me with a small sad smile, his hand moving a lock of my hair gently off my face, his finger tips softly stroking my face for a very brief moment before he withdrew them as though he'd been burnt. "This, this is wrong." He muttered to himself, moving away from me fractionally on the bed.

"Why?" I asked, hurt but accepting. This guy was much too good for me, I knew that. But what was with the whole hot and cold thing? Why kiss me then tell me it was wrong? I so did not get guys.

"I'm not the kind of guy that you should be with B." Dean said to me, his eyes telling me what my mind just couldn't accept, he was saying these things, but really he did want this. He did want me. "I don't do the whole flowers and candy thing. I don't date, I won't one day wake up and be able to settle down. There's no white picket fence and big back yard in my future. And you, you should have all of that."

"Hey, not to be funny or anything but we kissed. I didn't propose and neither did you. It was a kiss. An amazing kiss at that, but still. Who said anything about white picket fences? And I don't like flowers, what's the point in them? Especially if I'm gonna be living out of a suitcase from now on, though candy's good. I don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow, at the moment I'm pretty darn sure that my life expectancy's not very high. So I'm not gonna worry about tomorrow, or white picket fences or big yards. Why are you?" I asked, sounding like I was trying to convince him of something, but really I genuinely wanted to know. What was the point in thinking about tomorrow when the way our lives were we could be dead tonight?

"You are one strange chick B, you know that?" Dean asked me with a small smile.

"Well you're not Mr. Joe the plumber yourself D." I said back with a smile.

"So what then? I told ya I don't do the whole dating thing." Dean asked me, his eyes begging me for something, but I was at a loss as to what.

I shrugged, I'd be damned if I knew what the hell to do. "I don't know." I admitted to Dean looking into his eyes, trying to work something out that was harder than any calculus I'd ever done. Maths was easy, people were hard.

"We could just ride the wave?" Dean suggested to me with a smirk after a minute or two of just staring into each others eyes.

"Ride the wave?" I asked, I really hoped that wasn't some kinky thing that I'd just never heard of.

"Just see what happens." Deans smirk became more pronounced.

"So what? Just be friends and see if anything happens?" I asked watching as a light went out of Deans eyes slightly at my suggestion. But that's what I thought he meant. Although not what I'd hoped for. Were men and relationships always this difficult or just the men I fell for? I really wished I had someone to answer that question. But again, I had no-one.

"Yeah, we could do that, if that's what you want?" Dean asked sounding hesitant and disappointed. Looked like it was all on me then. I took a deep breath and gathered all of my courage.

"No that's not what I want. I want to carry on where we left off five minutes ago. I want to see if we could be something. But I wasn't the one backing away." I really hated these moments in life, the ones where you had to bare your soul and wait for a response. When you were totally and completely vulnerable. Hated it. With a passion.

"This is so fucked up." Dean half groaned as he re-took my face in his hands and kissed me for the second time.

This time his lips mashed hard against mine, none of the tenderness from before, just pure naked need. The kind I'd never experienced before. As he nipped at my lower lip I let out a small groan, unable to stop myself. This man was doing things to me that I'd never even knew could happen. A world away from the restrained affection that my douche bag of an ex had given me. There was nothing restrained about the way Dean was attacking my lips, mine following his lead, wanting this with as much desperation as he seemed to. My hands clutched at his short brown hair and pulled so that he was closer to me, eliciting a moan from the man that had wetness pooling between my legs and a leaping feeling in my stomach.

One hand that had been clutching my face moved to the nape of my neck pulling me so close to him that my chest was pressed against his hard muscular one. We were both kneeling on the bed, our hands stroking, pulling, exploring from the shoulders up. Our lips mashing together in a wild passionate dance. Our tongues attacking each other, fighting for dominance in our mouths. It was singularly the most erotic moment of my life so far. All of my nerve endings felt as though they were on fire. Every place that Dean touched burnt and tingled at the same time. And places that I'd previously been almost unaware of had started a slow smouldering fire that lit me from the inside out.

I could have carried on for a life time. Could have kissed Dean for the rest of my days. Explored his mouth, his face, his broad muscular shoulders for years. But all good things must come to an end apparently.

A key sounded out in the lock and we jumped apart guiltily. As though what we'd done was wrong. Was something to be ashamed of. Maybe it was, right then, at that moment I didn't care. In fact I had to work really hard to keep a shit eating grin off of my face.

Dean climbed off the bed just as the door swung open. Sam stood in the doorway clutching coffees and a paper folder in his hands.

I really, really liked Sam, I did, but his timing totally sucked.

"Morning Bells. How ya doing?" Sam asked me in a soft voice as he passed me a coffee. It all came rushing back to me then, his voice made it all real again. My brief happiness from a minute ago almost all but forgotten.

"Ok thanks." I replied, my voice coming out slightly hollow and a small wan smile making its way falsely to my kiss swollen lips.

"Dude get dressed." Sam told Dean in a commanding voice.

"I am dressed!" Dean replied affronted. He was wearing what was his uniform of sorts. A black t-shirt that clung to all the right places, a shirt over the top, a pair of faded denim jeans and his necklace firmly in place. In one of our talks at Bobby's Dean had told me that the necklace was the best gift that he'd ever been given.

"We're going to the morgue man, get dressed." Sam replied, shooting a glance at me as he did.

"Me and you right?" Dean asked pointedly, also shooting me a glance out of the corner of his eyes. Neither of them had to worry, I had no interest in visiting the bodies of my mother and step father. I wanted to help, but seeing them in real life, after what had happened to them. Well that would be a bit much for me.

"What ya want me to do?" I asked as I got up, coffee firmly held in hand.

"I've got the crime scene report here, you could go through that if ya feel up to it B?" Sam asked holding aloft the beige paper folder for me.

"Sure." I said, not really knowing if I was telling the truth or not. Still I took the thick folder in my hands and sat down with it at the sticky table the motel had kindly given us.

Dean looked at me for a few minutes before sighing and heading to the bathroom, bag in hand.

"You know, we'd understand if you didn't feel up to that." Sam told me with a nod towards the folder. "Besides it's not like you've gone through one before, you don't really know what you're looking for." I had the strangest feeling that Sam was goading me, trying to make me mad so that I would look through it.

"I know enough thanks. I'll be fine." I replied curtly while trying to hold in a wry smile. I'd known Sam long enough now to know what he was doing. Things didn't hurt as much when you were angry. Things like reading about your mothers death in detail, like looking at pictures of her torn apart body. In theory, in practice no matter what state of mind I started this in, it was going to end up badly. I knew that, and Sam knew that, but he'd try anyway. And so would I.

The bathroom door clicked open softly and Dean came out looking really hot. I swear in his suit there wasn't a woman alive who could've resisted him.

Dean coughed a deep manly cough before walking in front of me, his shoulders tense, though why I had no idea. "Here." He said awkwardly while thrusting a cell phone onto the table in front of me. It was a shiny cell, a good one I thought and it looked brand new. "I picked this up for ya. It's got Sam's number stored, Bobby's and mine. Ring us if..." Dean said to me looking as though this act of extreme kindness was actually killing him. Or at least making him feel really damn awkward.

"Thank you." I told him sincerely taking the phone in my hand and examining it. I might not have had a cell before but I didn't live in a cave. This was a brand new Blackberry phone, it must have cost him a fair bit. "You know you didn't have to Dean, let me give you some money for it."

"Just take the damn thing B." Dean replied, but he was trying not to smile at me, his eyes warm and light.

"Thanks D." I muttered again, a blush sweeping across my face and a smile playing across my lips.

Sam was looking from me to Dean with a confused frown on his face. Dean noticed and straightened up, his mask firmly back in place. I'd have to learn to conjure one myself. I gave way too much away through my features, an open book as my mom use to say. Maybe I'd adopt my poker face as my own mask. Something to hide the pain, the hurt and the rare pleasure.

"See ya later then sweetheart." Dean said before heading for the door.

"Bye D, Sammy." I said with a smile.

Sam stopped in his tracks, turned towards me with wide eyed incredulity; "it's Sam." He said darkly. But I could tell he didn't mind. And Dean was howling with laughter as they left, so I didn't think I'd drop that one for a little while.

As the door shut silence descended on the small tacky room and my stomach dropped. I looked from the police file to my brand new phone. I'd never been one for procrastination, if I had to do something I really hated doing, really didn't want to do, I did it first, got it out of the way. This time was different. Instead of looking through the police report I picked up my shiny new toy. I reasoned with myself that the report would take fifteen minutes tops and that the brothers would be at least an hour. I had time to fulfil an unspoken promise.

I dialled in the familiar number, knowing it off by heart. It was picked up on the second ring by a voice I wasn't expecting but happy to hear anyway.

"Hello?" Came the deep booming voice that I'd recognise anywhere.

"Emmett?" I asked, tears leaping to my eyes unwillingly.

"Bella?" Emmett asked back, sounding half releaved and unbelievable happy at the same time.

"Hi Emmett."

"Bella! It's Bella!" Emmett shouted making me pull the phone away from my ear and giggle slightly.

"Bella? Are you ok? What are you doing? Alice says your hunting things? She had a vision of you with a gun! A gun! Is it true? What are you hunting? Where are you? Tell me everything!" Emmett said down the line, sounding like an excitable female, worse for a second he sounded exactly like Jessica Stanley.

I laughed again before answering him. "I'm fine Emmett, I am hunting things, well kind of. Yeah I've been taught how to use a gun. We're in Phoenix right now. How are you guys?" I asked.

"We're good, Forks is boring with out you though. Don't make that face, it is and you know it Rose! Look Bella..." Emmett sounded a bit nervous now, I realised what he was going to say a nano second before it came out of his mouth, before I could protest. "Bella, we're all really, really sorry about Edward. He's gone. And he's minus an appendix. An important one." Emmett chuckled darkly down the phone and the hairs on my arms stood on end for a second. "Rose, she took care of that herself. I just held him." He sounded upset that he'd not had more to do. "We... Hang on Alice, I'm still talking... Alice..."

I heard the phone being ripped out of a hand and the distant boom of; 'damn annoying pixie.' Again I couldn't help but laugh.

"Bella get out of that room now!" Came Alice's musical shriek from down the phone. I frowned. What? "Bella the police they're gonna be knocking on your door in five minutes exactly. Get out of there now! You don't want to be there when they arrive trust me!" Alice shrieked again.

"Alice, what?" I asked, already stuffing my things into my bag though.

"Put the phone down. Ring Dean and Sam and get out of there!"

"Ok. Bye!" I said hurriedly before hanging up and pulling up the contacts list with fumbling fingers, my bag already packed, I'd started on Sam and Deans now, knowing I only had four minutes left.

The phone rang three times before being answered. "Yeah?" Said a deep male voice that had shivers running up my spine in a delicious way.

"Police are coming. I've packed the bags and I'm getting out of here. I'll meet you at the dinner." I said pulling my bag over my shoulder and lifting the guys bags with my free hand.

"We'll be there in five. Be careful." Dean warned me sounding calmer than I'd have thought he'd be, before hanging up.

I rushed from the room and started hurrying for the dinner two blocks from here. Walking fast but not running, I didn't want to draw any attention to myself. Give the police any clues as to where we'd vanished from. Though for the life of me I couldn't work out why the hell we were running from the cops. I mean we hadn't done anything wrong. Well except credit card fraud. And the guys were impersonating F.B.I agents. Not to mention the arsenal that we had stored in the trunk of the Impala. Ok, so maybe we did have reason not to want to speak with them.

In no time at all I was seated in the dinner, sweaty and red faced ordering a coffee that I didn't want. The crime file clutched in my hands still.

I looked down into the file and decided that having something to do, even something that would likely give me a nervous break down, would be better than sitting and worrying that the police would catch up with me. Would be better than sitting there looking guilty as hell and squirming in my seat.

It took me five minutes to read through the file for the first time, a brief sweep of it. I picked up my phone again, pressing the call back button and waited.

"Yeah?"

"Where are you?"

"About a minute away."

"This is worse than we thought, I need to get out of town. Now." I said, stress, anger and incredulity burning in my voice.

"What's happened?" Dean asked, his voice stressed in response to mine.

"You got me on speaker?" I asked, wanting to say this only once.

"Yeah, what's happened?" Dean repeated.

"They've got a suspect for the murders." I said, my voice quieter now, not wanting the other patrons to over hear me.

"Who?" Dean asked, sounding like he was preparing himself for the worst.

"Me." I told him.

"Wait outside we're almost there." Dean told me, his voice flat, dead.

I shoved some money onto the table and walked out with a forced smile for my waitress, the bags firmly in my hands. Weighing a lot less than they had done a few weeks ago. Either that or the weights I'd been made to lift had paid off.

I was stood in the blistering heat for less than twenty seconds before the familiar black car pulled up in front of me with a roar. Dean and Sam both jumped out and grabbed the bags off me, shoving them into the trunk and then hustling me into the back seat. Both the brothers were trying to act calm, but the panic and worry was pouring off them in waves.

Once we were settled in our normal seats and Dean was speeding away from the dinner I started talking, explaining. "They think I did it. They think I killed my mom and Phil. There are pictures of me going into their house, and then coming out of it covered in blood. How? How?" I took a deep breath trying to calm the mounting hysteria. It did little to work. "What the fuck is going on!?" I all but roared at the men. Scared, confused and upset.

"Can I have a look?" Sam asked me quietly. I wordless passed over the file.

We sat silently for a few minutes, the only noise the growl of the engine as we accelerated wildly from the city that I had once called home. The city that was now throwing me out, causing me nothing but hurt and upset.

As I sat in the back, my mind was whirring, ticking over faster than the wheels off the speeding car.

"If you wanted to get some information out of someone the best way to do it would be by pretending to be someone they loved and trusted. And when that didn't work you'd torture it out of them. What are they and what are they looking for?" I asked putting some pieces of a really difficult and wildly confusing puzzle together.

"B I know your upset, but I'm really not following you." Dean told me, but his eyes weren't making contact with anything but the road. A gentle frown gracing his perfect features. His amazing kissable lips pulled down. The problem was that over the last two weeks or so they'd, he'd, been telling me how to work out if someone was avoiding answering you, if they were hiding something or out and out lying. In Deans own words teaching me how to be 'a living, breathing, bullshit detector' and I was smelling it here.

"Don't lie to me. If you're not gonna tell me fine. But don't lie to me. Not now." I said, my words harder than they'd ever been.

"Dean..." Sam said trying to be quite but there wasn't much you could hide in this tiny space.

"No Sam..." Dean started what was obviously going to be a long drawn out rant about keeping me safe by keeping things from me.

"Dean, it was a shifter. Wearing Bells face. She's right. She saw more in this than we did. Than Bobby did." Sam muttered to his older brother, his tone sad and tired. "After what we saw this morning, you really think it's safer?"

Dean sighed, looked at me in the rear view mirror with soft eyes and then looked at Sam, having one of his silent conferences with his brother. Nothing was said for the next ten minutes. Not until Dean pulled into another motel, miles outside of the city where I was wanted for the murder of my mother and step father.

"Get the room." Dean instructed Sam as he pulled up outside of a high-rise motel. For once I didn't watch the space around us. I didn't take note of the name, what kind of state the place was in, how many cars were around us. Nothing. Every inch of my body was focused on the two men in front of me. Every part of my brain trying to focus on anything but the fact that my mom had thought that I'd killed her. That the last thing she'd seen was me killing her. Hurting her.

Sam got out of the car, throwing Dean a hard look as he did. I had no idea what conclusion they'd come to as they'd done it silently.

Dean turned his whole body in his seat to look at me. I leant forward to the edge of mine, eager to hear whatever it was that he was going to say to me.

"Where did the pictures come from?" Dean asked me while giving a nod to indicate the police file on Sam's vacant seat.

"I don't know." I said, my voice vague as I thought about it. I had no clue as to where the pictures had come from. It looked like someone had taken them from a car at the side of the road or something. But why was someone sat outside of Renée and Phil's house taking a picture of their daughter arriving home? The file hadn't mentioned a witness or anything.

"Why would someone give those pictures to the police B?" Dean asked me, he sounded like he already knew the answer but was trying to get me to realise something on my own. It wasn't going to work though, after the last couple of days my brain now felt like mush. It had been in overdrive a few minutes ago but now it had given up on me, too exhausted to see something that was probably obvious.

"I don't know Dean. I don't get any of this." I said in frustration. Traitorous tears making their way to my eyes, I blinked desperately to make them ago away.

Dean leant forward and took my hand in his. He sighed before speaking, "it's ok sweetheart, it'll be ok." His words however were hollow, a promise that would be broken a thousand times. But his hand gently rubbing mine, his thumb stroking my palm, calmed me down, help to bring me back down from my frustration, anger and down right terror.

"I just want to know what's going on." I pleaded with Dean, staring into his amazing eyes and almost getting lost.

"We'll tell you. But B?" Dean asked, I nodded letting him know that I was listening. "You gotta promise me one thing." Again I nodded, there wasn't much that I wouldn't have done for Dean, not after everything. "Hear the whole story before you jump to conclusions." Not what I expected to hear, but I nodded anyway. That I could do, I was pretty sure.

~0~

Sam, Dean and I were sat around the tiny motel table together. All of us looking wearily at each other, waiting to see who would make the first move.

Sam cracked first. "You know when we found Charlie's papers and we started talking about seals?" He asked me starting the conversation that was apparently going to explain everything to me.

"Yeah." I answered hesitantly. That trip wasn't something I was likely to forget anytime soon.

"Right, what do you know about seals." He asked me.

"If they're not those little bluberry things that live in the sea then nothing." I answered, even more confused now. This was supposed to be clearing things up for me I thought. I saw Dean smile wanly out of the corner of my eye. Something that he hadn't done much in the last few days.

"What's your bible studies like B?" Dean asked me.

"Erm... I dunno not brilliant I guess. I got the whole Jesus son of God thing down. But if you're gonna be asking me about Matthew part six subsection A then I'm at a loss." I replied.

Dean nodded and looked towards Sam. "Seals are like keys, keys that open a door or more precisely a box." Sam explained for me.

"A box to what?" I asked, my heart hammering as I realised that this wasn't going to be a box full of chocolates.

"To Lucifer. If someone were to break sixty-six of the six hundred and sixty-six seals then Lucifer would be free. He'd be walking among us." Sam said, looking miserable.

"Ok." I said, my throat dry and my heart still pounding.

"There's this demon called Lilith, she's breaking the seals. We don't know how many she's broken yet. Only that it's more than the good guys, us, have stopped her from breaking. But because we're trying to stop her we're on her hit list. And she ain't flying solo." Dean said, his voice dark, hatred coming through as he spoke the demons name.

I nodded and turned to Sam as he took over. "Angels are trying to stop her too. But it looks like this is it. That we're living in the end days."

"Apocalypse now." Dean interrupted with a small smirk that had my heart rate rising again, though for different reasons.

Sam rolled his eyes at his brother and carried on speaking. "So we've got demons roaming the earth and angels coming down from heaven. Two out of the three."

"Two of three?" I asked, thinking out loud. "Heaven, hell and... Purgatory."

Sam nodded at me with a small smile that didn't reach his chocolate eyes. "Yeah purgatory, and the things that live in Purgatory, they want their representative out for the big showdown. Eve, the mother of all supernatural creatures." Sam finished as though that should explain everything to me. It didn't.

"What's that got to do with my mom, with my dad, with me?" I asked.

"Angels, demons, anything that powerful, they need a vessel. And certain people are better, stronger vessels than others. The big three have one person who would be the perfect vessel for them." Sam said softly.

"No." I whispered realising what I was about to be told.

"You're Eve's vessel sweetheart." Dean told me softly, his eyes telling me that he wished it wasn't true but that it was.

"How long have you known? What does that mean?" I asked, my head spinning, my heart thumping and my anger rising.

"Since we were at Bobby's, he worked it out from your dad's papers." Sam told me. "And it doesn't mean anything. To be a vessel, you have to give permission for the big three to enter you. To have your body. So it means nothing, except that they're looking for you."

"Why haven't you guys just killed me then?" I asked, what for me would be an obvious question.

Both of the brothers faces scrunched up in distaste at me though. "Why the hell would we do that? You wouldn't have killed Anakin because he might one day turn in Vader would you? And you wouldn't kill a person who might one day be possessed? Besides we like you. If you were a douche bag, or Paris Hilton, then maybe. But we're the good guys B, and we aren't gonna take you out just because someone wants your body to use." Dean raised his eyebrows at that, a clear nod towards the innuendo he intended. Again I blushed.

"Besides, it's not as though we're innocent of this whole thing." Dean muttered darkly, his playful tone gone now. Replaced by anger, upset and what sounded like remorse.

"What do you mean?" I asked gently, wanting to know.

"I mean I started this whole thing ok? Its my fault that you're wanted, that all of this is happening. What you're going through. It's because of me!" Dean said, desperation in his voice.

"What?" I asked, confused and a little scared. I was safe with Sam and Dean right?

"I broke the first seal." Dean whispered, his voice anguished.

"It's not your fault dude!" Sam said, his voice angry but also a little exasperated. This was a conversation that the brothers had obviously had before.

"I broke the first seal, it's my fault!" Dean insisted.

"What was the first seal?" I asked quietly, this sounded bad, but I couldn't believe that Dean had done something terrible enough to help raise the devil. He was a good man, I could tell that, I could feel it in my heart.

"A righteous man torturing people." Dean replied, harshly. "Still think it isn't my fault?" He sounded like he was waiting for my rebuff, that this was what he was dreading, this was the reason he'd been holding back from me, not wanting to take things further, or even give in to want that he'd confessed for me earlier.

"Dean went to hell, he suffered forty years of torture before he tortured someone else." Sam told me in a voice no louder than a whisper but that might as well have been a shout.

"You went to hell!?" I asked Dean stunned, appalled that, this man, Dean, had been to hell. I couldn't even begin to imagine how terrible that had been for him. My heart went out for Dean, and something else was happening in my heart too. This wonderful man, had withstood hell, he was even better than I'd thought he was. That also explained the nightmares he woke up from in a sweat, the thinly veiled wild look he sometimes got in his eyes. He was remembering hell.

"Yeah." Dean said, looking at me for something, a slight tone of hope in his voice.

"I'm sorry." I said, looking into his eyes. "Sorry that you had to go through that."

Both guys looked at me with small smiles on their faces. Sam's almost a smirk, but real happiness hidden deep in his eyes, for what, I didn't know, but was glad that I'd helped to put it there.

"So now you know." Dean said looking me over, worry replacing the look of happiness in his eyes briefly. "How ya doing sweetheart?"

I probed my own feelings so that I could answer honestly. How did I feel about being a vessel to a powerful, evil being? How did I feel knowing that I was the reason that my mother was killed? Knowing that I was probably the reason my father had up and left? That he was too disgusted with me to stay, but loved me too much to kill me? How did I feel?

"I think I need a drink." I answered honestly, making both brothers smile.

* * *

**Hope this chapter didn't dissapoint! You've all been so amazing that I'm gonna try and get a few more chaps out this week. please let me know what you thought! :) love always Tametiger :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**I love you guys soo much! Thankyou all for the amazing feedback. And because you've been so brilliant I've been typing away like a mad woman and gave two brand spanking new chapters for you! Now this episode is taken from Season 3 I know but you're just gonna have to use a bit of imagination I'm afraid :) As always I own nothing from either Supernatural or twilight! Enjoy :)**

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Chapter Thirteen

Jus In Bello

We took it in turns to have showers and get ready. Dean had decided that this called for a night at a club or bar, which ever was closest. Somewhere there was unlimited alcohol.

I was last to use the bathroom, taking a long hot shower to rinse the stress from my body.

I went through my bag after that trying to find anything remotely dressy that I could wear without feeling like a hooker. Alice's tastes and mine were definitely different, that was for sure. Eventually I got dressed into a pair of tight black trousers that I think she meant for when I went dressed as a cop and a black tank top that was ripped at the back and showed off my navel. I added some black boots and a black leather jacket, along with a bit of make-up. Nothing special but I'd do.

I stepped out of the greasy bathroom and dumped my bag at the foot of the bed Dean and I would be sharing tonight.

"Wow Bells, you look good." Sam said from his bed where he was sat with a beer, apparently waiting for me so that we could head out.

"Thanks." I said with a small smile teamed with a blush.

"Ready sweetheart?" Dean asked me, I turned to face him and blushed harder. He was looking me up and down slowly with a lazy smirk on his face. His eyes round and almost glazed over.

"Yup." I said with a smile, trying to hide my embarrassment and failing.

Dean drove us to a bar in the next town over. It looked like a dive, and there were numerous bikes outside. But a bar was a bar and right now I really could use a drink.

Inside was noisy, sweaty and smokey. Music screamed out over a packed room. There were men playing pool on a table at the back of the huge room, a small dancing area had been set up next to it. Tables overflowed with people and the bar was three deep.

The clientele of the place were predominantly male, in fact there were only two other women in the entire bar. One sat on the knee of a huge man, who looked like an ageing biker and another was dancing away with a scrawny man on the makeshift dance floor.

As we made our way to the bar heads turned and followed our progress making me feel uncomfortable. It felt like we were being sized up, or checked out. Dean and Sam though seemed un-fazed by the attention.

We ordered our drinks and made our way over to a free pool table together. "Fancy a game sweetheart?" Dean asked me while pulling out a cue and chalking it up.

"Why not." I said with a smile, downing half of my double vodka and orange.

Dean and I played pool for the next ten minutes, I don't think that I gave him the game of his life, in fact I sucked. But it was fun anyway. And Sam kept the drinks coming, as well as shouting out pointers to me that had no effect on my sucky playing unfortunately.

"Fancy a game Sammy?" Dean asked as he'd beaten me hands down.

"Sure, but I'm gonna kick your butt." Sam smirked getting up from his seat and taking my cue from me.

I sat and watched the game for a bit, it was defiantly more exciting than mine and Deans. Sam was matching him hit for hit, ball down for ball down. It was going to be a close one.

"Hey!" Came a shout from next to me.

I tore my eyes away from watching Dean as he leant over the table in front of me and looked to the owner of the voice. A guy stood next to me, perhaps in his late thirties, wearing the trucker look that just reminded me of Bobby now. He had long black hair and a big moustache, teamed with a belly that hung over his jeans. Yeah, not my type.

"Hey." I replied before looking back at the game, I'd missed Sam's shot.

"You wanna dance or something?" The man asked me, obviously not put off by the fact that I was clearly not interested.

"No thanks." I said with a smile before looking back over to the game once more. It looked like Dean had put the ball so that it would be almost impossible for Sam to make his shot.

"C'mon. One dance and I'll leave you alone." The guy persisted.

"How about we cut out the middle man? Just leave me alone." I said with a frown, the alcohol making me braver than normal. That and I was fairly sure that I'd be able to kick this mans butt now.

He put his hand on my arm and tugged lightly. I saw from the corner of my eye Sam nudge Dean and point over to me. Both of them put their cues down and headed over to me. "I said no, now leave me alone please." I said, my voice hard as I shrugged his hand off of me.

"Don't be like that. Dance with me." No was not in this dudes vocabulary was it? He took my arm in his hand once more and tugged a little harder this time.

"Dude, the lady said no, so I think you should leave." Came Deans voice from behind me. I turned to see him and Sam stood with their arms crossed and intimidating looks on their faces as they started the guy down.

"I was just asking her to dance." The man protested raising his arms and backing off slightly. "That's all, one dance." I could see some men watching the exchange and getting up, the dudes friends no doubt. That probably wasn't going to be good.

Four men, all with the trucker look going on, and all large came up behind their friend. "We got a problem here?" One of the larger men asked Sam and Dean, ignoring me completely.

"Yeah, your douche bag of a friend won't take no for an answer." Dean snapped out, his patience now gone it seemed.

The man who'd come to his friends aid looked down at me. "I can see why. You wanna dance don't you sweet thing?" The man drawled at me.

"Not with any of you guys I don't. No." I snapped slightly repulsed.

It happened so quickly. One minute we were having a slight disagreement the next one of the men grabbed me and pulled me to my feet. Instinctively I turned and sent a punch to his face. The force of which had him crashing through a table. Then it was all out war.

The four men, Sam, Dean and me were suddenly in a bar brawl. Chairs went flying, as did bodies, punches and kicks. It was chaos. But not once did Dean, Sam or I ever receive one of those punches or kicks, we blocked them and sent them back.

Minutes later, the brawl still going on and the doors to the bar burst open. We stopped to see who had made their dramatic entrance.

My blood ran cold as I saw the place being stormed by armed police. They came straight towards our little corner, automatic machine guns clutched firmly in their hands.

"Hands in the air!" They screamed at Sam, Dean and me. I complied straight away. I so didn't want to die this way. "Get down on the floor!" Again I followed the order. My heart beating painfully hard in my chest, terror surging through my body.

"Don't worry sweetheart, we'll get out of this." Dean whispered in my ear from the dirty, sticky bar floor next to me.

His words did little to pacify me though, as suddenly my arms were being twisted and cold steel handcuffs were biting into the tender skin of my wrists and my rights were being read for the murder of my mother and Phil. One thing was for sure, I was never drinking again.

~0~

We were shoved unceremoniously into a tiny cell, all three of us together. We'd been pushed through the small police station passed a young man and an even younger woman who both looked terrified at the sight of us. The woman was clutching some rosary beads for dear life as she watched our progress, as though we were something evil.

"What now?" I asked as our hands were chained in front of us and our legs connected in a loose chain at our feet. Stood together in a dirty cell, a cot, a sink and a toilet the only furniture in the five by six room. I admit I was trying hard not to panic at the situation.

"Now we wait for the opportunity to arise." Dean said, trying for cocky but failing.

"What opportunity?" I asked, desperate to know how the hell we'd get out of this.

"One where we're not totally screwed." Dean answered.

We weren't waiting long before we had a visitor. "Sam and Dean Winchester." Came the deep and very happy voice of a young bald black man. Considering that he was probably the reason that we were in this situation I thought he looked nice. "I've waited so long to finally meet you two. And I've got to say I couldn't be happier about it." Well I really wasn't happy about it at all.

"Hendrickson." Dean stated looking worried now.

"In the flesh." Hendrickson replied with a big smile. He then turned his big brown eyes on to me. "And this must be Isabella Swan."

"Yeah, I'd say it was a pleasure to meet you. But I'm not so sure it is." I said with a frown.

"Well it is for me I can tell you. Two of the most notorious criminals out there and a rising star. Did you meet up with these two before or after you killed all of your parents Isabella?" Hendrickson asked me with an evil smile, as though he didn't really care either way. But something he said turned my blood cold.

"All of my parents? Charlie? He's...?" I didn't dare ask the question, I felt light-headed and swayed slightly on my feet. Dean wrapped an arm around me to steady me and Sam placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"You tell me. He's missing and we haven't found a body. But I'm guessing you went for all three. The set as it were." Relief washed through me as I realised that my dad was still out there. That there was no body found.

"I haven't killed anyone. Ever." I told the man honestly, not that he was going to believe me but still, I had to try.

"Yeah sure. Those pictures, they just look like you but really it was... Aliens, demons, body snatchers." Hendrickson rolled his eyes and seemed angry.

"Actually it was a shapshifter using my face." I replied matching his anger in my tone.

"Wow, you guys really have been feeding her your brand of crazy haven't you? I get all the other things, you're fucked in the head. Crazy. But now you're going to have buying alcohol for a minor on your rap sheets too? I don't get that. Or is Isabella now Bonnie to your Clyde Dean?" Hendrickson asked Dean with a small frown.

"What are you on about?" Dean replied, his face full of confusion as he looked from the man questioning us to me.

"You don't know?" The man asked Dean, his face lighting, up even happier now he had Dean on the back foot. "Isabella there, she's a minor. Nineteen isn't it?"

"What?" Dean asked me.

"Yeah, I'm nineteen. Does that really matter?" I asked Dean, looking into his eyes, pleading with him as his arm dropped from round me.

"Bella I'm ten years older than you! Jeeze!" He stepped away from me, hurting me more than he should of been able to, probably more than he realised.

"I'm twenty in two weeks, so only nine really. And that hasn't mattered so far. It's not like its drove a wedge between us. I'm still me, just now you know my real age." I was almost begging, I needed to stop I was starting to look pathetic.

"I hate to interrupt your lovers tiff, but it seems as though I'm needed." Hendrickson said with another smile. "But before I go let me give you some advice."

"Oh please do." Dean spat at the man.

"You're never gonna see each other again, you're all going to a high risk, maximum security prison, you'll be in cells no bigger than you are and you'll see daylight once a week depending on behaviour. Get you're goodbyes out of the way now." Hendrickson smiled once more. "So maybe now isn't the best time to be having a row." With that the man walked away from the holding area we were being kept in, laughing as he did. Despite him locking us up and starting arguments, as well as thinking we were all three sheets to the wind, I couldn't help but like him. He seemed like one of the good guys.

Sam and Dean sat down on the tiny cot in the room, both sighing as they did. It seemed as though they'd forgot that we were all chained together though. As they sat down my legs were taken from under me by the chain and I fell onto the bed with them. My knees landing in Sam's stomach and my head in Deans lap, it couldn't have been much more embarrassing.

"Sorry." I mumbled moving myself so that I was sat comfortably in-between them rather than on top of them.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me you were only nineteen Bella!" Dean said angrily, shifting his lap away from me and putting his arms in it. If I didn't know any better then I'd have thought he was trying to hide something.

"I didn't think it was a big deal!" I argued back, feeling Sam shift guiltily next to me.

"Nine years is a big deal!" He said angrily.

"Why would the age difference matter to you Dean? I mean it's not like..." Sam trailed off as he realised exactly why it did matter to his older brother. "Oh. You're...?"

"No, we're not anything." Dean bit out, closing his eyes for a second and groaning. "This is so fucked up!"

"You said that earlier." I snapped, pissed off and hurt.

"How long have you two been... Ya know?" Sam asked the both of us, looking like he was trying to hide a smile.

"We haven't." Dean said, his eyes snapping back open and moving away further from me on the tiny bed.

"We kissed, this morning. That's it. And apparently that's all that there will be." I said, hurt coming through in my voice even though I was trying to hide it.

"Bella, for gods sake, you're nineteen, of course that's all!"

"It's legal!" I argued back.

"So is marrying your cousin in some states, doesn't make it right sweetheart." Dean replied.

"Why don't we have this conversation after we're out of here?" Sam suggested while wiggling his feet so the chain made a clinking noise as though to make a point.

"We're not having this conversation at all." Dean finished looking sour. "We're gonna get the hell out of here, then we're dumping her ass back at Bobby's where she'll be safe, then me and you can sort this mess out brother." Tears jumped into my eyes at his harsh words, my heart sinking, fear crackling through my body, fear and pain.

We sat in miserable silence for a few minutes before the sound of footsteps made us all sit up and look towards the metal bars that lined our cell. A man appeared in a fitted navy blue pin stripped suit, he was in his late thirties with receding hair, he looked like a slimy politician. And I didn't trust him one bit.

Dean stood up and faced the man, his face showing that he didn't trust this guy either.

"Sam and Dean Winchester, and Miss Isabella Swan. I'm Steven Groves, Deputy Director of the F.B.I. I've got to say this is a pleasure." The man directed us, I had this sinking feeling that we were even deeper in the shit now.

"Yeah, glad one of us feels this way." Dean said to the man, his face showing just how bleak he was finding this whole thing. And if Dean was thinking that there maybe no light at the end of the tunnel I was pretty sure that wasn't a good omen.

"I've been waiting for you to come out of the woodwork, especially you Bella, you're a hard one to get to." Steven addressed me with an evil looking smile that sent shivers down my spine.

Steven then drew a gun and pointed it at me; wind whistled through my head as I realised I was dead. No way out of this one, I was going to die, right here in this dirty little cell, right now. I didn't even have time to move.

Steven fired and I heard a grunt of pain, Dean had taken the bullet for me, he'd dived in the way of the gun and his blood was splattered on the wall behind him, just above my head. He'd actually jumped in front of the gun, for me.

Together me and Sam jumped off the bed as one, not thinking, just acting on instinct. Sam dived for Steven, grabbing his gun and arms, trying to wrestle the machine from the mans arms.

I dove over to Dean, dragging him to the bed and forcing him down. He looked like he was in pain, but he was alive. And so was I. Because of him. "Where does it hurt?" I asked as I tore his jacket off, urgency coming through in my voice.

"Where he shot me." Dean said with an eye roll, his voice suppressing the intense pain he must have been feeling.

"And where was that, wise ass!" I barked, panic and worry making me snap.

"Shoulder." Dean grunted in reply.

I was looking at the entry wound as I heard Sam start reciting one of the exorcisms that the brothers and Bobby had been teaching me. I turned briefly to see Stevens eyes turning black and an even bigger smile grace his face.

I relaxed slightly as I felt an exit wound on Deans back and not too much blood seeping out, it was a clean shot and it hadn't hit an artery, he'd live.

"Sorry guys, got to cut this short. It's going to be a long night." The demon wearing Steven gasped before screaming out a cloud of black smoke. I'd heard about it before, the guys had told me what happened in detail but it didn't prepair me for the real thing. Watching a demon leave someone was sickening. Truly. The person's mouth expanded beyond normal and a thick nauseous black cloud escaped in what looked like a very painful breath.

As Steven dropped to the floor, obviously dead, Hendrickson and a police man ran through to us in the holding area, both had their guns drawn and focused on us. I really wished people would stop doing that. It wasn't fun.

"Drop the gun!" Hendrickson shouted at Sam who'd been left holding Steven's pistol when he'd dropped.

"Wait! I'll drop it. Just don't shoot. Please. Don't shoot. Here. Look it's on the floor." Sam said backing away towards Dean and me. Panic clear in his voice, obviously not wanting anyone else to get shot.

"He shot him." The policeman said looking from Steven to Sam.

"I didn't shoot anyone, look at him there's no blood. I didn't shoot him." Sam protested, still sounding panicked as the men hadn't put their guns away yet.

"I was the one who got shot!" Dean said with anger from the bed, praising his hand from his shoulder to show the bullet wound that was steadily trickling blood down his dark t-shirt.

"They're right sir, there's no blood, he hasn't been shot." The police officer said from Steve's body, he sounded confused and a little scared.

"He's probably been dead for weeks." Dean informed the men, his voice still on the grumpy side, which since he'd been shot was understandable.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Hendrickson asked us, gun still drawn and pointed, though now it was angled more towards the floor.

"We didn't do anything, didn't you hear them? Dean was shot, we didn't do anything!" I said, pissed off now despite, or maybe because of the guns.

"Talk or I shoot." Hendrickson said, his voice hard, raising his gun again and pointing it at the three of us, one target now we were bunched together again.

"You won't believe us." Dean said scathingly.

"He was possessed." I said, well I had to try after all.

"Right, possessed, yeah, obviously. Fire up the chopper we're taking them out of here!" Hendrickson barked at the police officer.

The man nodded before pulling out a walkie talkie. "Reid? Reid?" No noise was coming back from the helicopter. Hendrickson nodded at the officer who then left, apparently to go find out what was wrong at the helicopter. I exchanged a look with Sam, yeah, that wasn't a good sign. We were so screwed right now.

The police man was gone for a few minutes when suddenly a huge explosion shook the building.

"What the hell!?" Hendrickson shouted before bolting from the room, his gun back out at the ready.

I turned to face Sam and Dean, they both looked almost anxious, not a good look, and not something that was reassuring.

"How we gonna Houdini our way out of this one?" Dean asked with a sigh as he laid back down on the bed.

"Not a clue. How you doing?" Sam asked nodding towards Deans bullet wound.

"I'll live, you know if we get out of here alive." Dean wise cracked back, ever the joker, even when facing death.

"Dean..." I started saying softly, my hand resting just above his injured shoulder, I wanted to express my gratitude, tell him just what it meant to me.

"B, don't, ok." Dean told me. I dropped my hand and looked at my feet. I'd really blown it with this age thing obviously. "Tell me when we get out of here k?" He added, I looked up to see him smiling softly at me and my heart started beating a more rhythmic tune.

Something terrifying went off in my head then, a thought occurring to me that had never made it's self present until now. This whole situation would have most people shitting themselves. I wasn't far from it, don't get me wrong. But although through out all of this I'd felt fear, sure, I was scared and almost certain that we weren't making it out of this. Nothing had scared me more than when I'd thought that Dean was washing his hands of me. That sent terror streaming down my spine, raised the hairs on my arms and even made me feel a bit sick. I'd only known this guy four weeks, a month, and I was falling in love with him. That scared the hell out of me.

Just as I came to my startling realisation the lights in the station went out. Dean, Sam and I jumped up as one, my reflexes almost as good as theirs now. "Well that's not good." I stated the obvious.

"No, it's not sweetheart." Dean said from next to me, gripping my hand with his as he did.

As the emergency lights came on Dean realised my hand with a small and gentle squeeze, one that gave me hope. Maybe when all of this was done we could work this out. Whatever this was and whatever there was to work out. I sure did pick 'em didn't I?

After nothing happened for a minute we sat back down, Dean groaning with pain as he did. Sam started poking at the wound, making sure that it was clean. The sight made me feel slightly sick, especially when Dean grunted in pain again.

"Stop being such a wuss dude." Sam said with a small smirk. These two could never be serious for more than a few minutes at a time and that was one of the reasons that I love... Liked them, liked them so much.

"Right so what's the plan? They kill everyone and then come and bust you three out?" Came Henderickson's deep voice from in front of our cell, we'd been so focused on Deans injury that we hadn't noticed him come in. A mistake that I hoped we weren't about to pay for.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I snapped, tiredness seeping through into my voice. This day had gone on for much too long for my liking, and I didn't need some one speaking in riddles to add to the weariness that I was now feeling.

"I'm talking about you're friends out there, the psycho ones that are turning this into a blood bath!" Hendrickson was mad now, but I could see faintly that he was also trying to hide some fear that he was obviously feeling. Smart man. And I was right there with him, this was scary as hell, and not something I was use to yet.

"Trust me when, I say, that whoever's out there is not here to help us and they sure as hell won't be our friends." Dean told the man, sitting up right as he did, the shadow of a grimace coming over his beautiful face.

"You gotta believe us, everyone here, they're in terrible danger." Sam said in a pleading voice, notching my fear levels up a bit. Could neither of the brothers have mentioned the terrible danger thing to me? Was that too much to have asked for?

"Gee, you think?" Hendrickson said back, his voice laden with sarcasm.

"Why don't you just let us out of here so we can save your asses?" Dean said, the cocky tone back in his snap as he addressed the F.B.I agent.

"From what? Demons?" Hendrickson joked, but none of us were laughing, I was pretty sure that's what was gonna try and take us out. That was trying to get in to kill us all. A clean sweep. His face got hard as he realised that we did mean demons, raising his gun for emphasis as he spoke. "Don't you dare say demons! I tell you what, you should be more scared of me." He said darkly before leaving the holding area.

"So you think we're gonna be attacked by demons then?" I asked the brothers as we settled back down, not exactly comfortably but as relaxed as we could be while we were under siege from both the good guys and the bad. This whole situation was insane, I loosely thought as I waited for their answer.

"Well the guy with the black eyes told us that we were gonna be in for a long night, I'm going to go with demons, yeah." Dean told me with an eye roll.

"My life isn't normal is it?" I asked as I grabbed a wad of toilet roll and pressed it to Deans bleeding shoulder. Ignoring the roll of my stomach as he gasped in pain.

"If you call normal, fighting for your life against a group of demons, while being chained to two handsome men, then sure it is Bells." Sam joked at me with a smile.

"Hey." Dean whispered to me and Sam, nodding his head to where a face was peering round the corner of the cell block at us. It was the woman from earlier, she looked scared but inquisitive. As though she'd come to see just how crazy and dangerous we really were.

"Hi." I addressed her, thinking that I probably looked and sounded the least scary out of all of us. I mean I was about her size after all, I couldn't look that intimidating. What nineteen year old girl did?

The woman backed off looking even moe worried now that I had spoken to her. So much for the not looking intimidating theory. Balls.

"Hang, on we need your help! Please!" I pleaded, a plan forming in my head as I watched the rosary beads turning in the womans hands. If we had them then we might be in with a bit of a shot at staying alive. Maybe. It was worth it though.

I quickly switched the only ring I wore to my ring finger, so quickly that I hoped the woman wouldn't have noticed. "Please, look, my husbands been shot, he's hurt pretty bad, please. Can we get a towel or something, something clean to stop the blood with?" I begged again, raising my hand so she could see the ring on my finger. The woman left, apparently ignoring my pleas. Damn.

"Nice try, but what was with the whole husband thing?" Dean asked from behind me, a small frown etched into his gorgeous face.

"She's super religious right, and she knows you're not my brother, it'd be better than whatever conclusion she'd jumped to. Make her think that we have the same values and stuff as her..." I trailed off as I saw the woman edge back into the room, a tiny smile gracing her lips. I breathed out a sigh of relief, this might work after all.

"Thank you." I said sincerely, holding my arms out through the bars to take the clean white towel she was holding out for me.

She gave me the towel and I took it, taking her arms back into the cell with me. The woman screamed a loud terrified noise that had my ears ringing and my stomach knotting with guilt. But this had to be done. Hopefully it would help save her as well. Or that's what I told myself to make me feel better anyway.

Another man came sprinting into the cell area, his gun out and pointed at me. His young eyes wide at the scene in front of him. I could hear the squeak of springs as Sam and Dean got of the bed behind me.

"Let her go!" The young police officer yelled at me. His voice high and scared, obviously not use to dealing with violent criminals.

I dropped the girls arms and backed away with my hands in the air, the clean towel clutched firmly in them. My heart beating painfully in my chest and my mouth going dry as what I'd just dared to do had hit me. The man looked from me to the woman who had almost flung herself into his arms when I'd let go. Together they backed out of the room, the gun never leaving me as they did.

"What the hell was that!?" Dean shouted at me as I turned to face the two brothers, both of their features were arranged in anger and surprise.

I held up my hand and opened it to reveal the rosary that I had taken off of Nancy. The men's face relaxed into smiles at the sight.

"We're sitting ducks in here and I don't like it. We needed something." I defended myself as both of the men smirked at me.

"Won't be hearing any complaints from me sweetheart, ya did good." Dean smiled at me as Sam took the rosary off me, also offering up a smile.

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**Another chapter coming your way now :) Hope you're all enjoying so far! x**


	14. Chapter 14

**second chapter as promised, enjoy! :) I own nothing x**

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Chapter Fourteen

Precinct 13

We sat waiting for whatever was going to happen next, Sam had taken care of the rosary and I was tending to Deans bullet injury, not that I could do much else for him without a first aid kit, but I was trying the best I could.

We weren't waiting long for something to happen, soon enough the Sheriff who had arrested us came to the cell and unlocked the door. We exchanged worried looks before backing away from him, the door opened with a squeal, they needed some oil on that desperately.

"Howdy Sheriff, what you doing?" Dean asked casually as he came and planted himself in front of me, effectively stopping me from seeing anything as he was so much taller than me. I peaked around his huge shoulder as the overweight Sheriff came walking into the cell with us. The two guns hanging off his belt not escaping my notice.

"We're leaving guys." The sheriff declared with eyes that didn't even try to hide just how scared the man was. This obviously wasn't going down the way he thought it was going to.

"You know what, we're ok here thanks, comfy even." Dean said stepping back so that I was pressed between him and the hard wall. The phrase stuck between a rock and a hard place popping into my head randomly. Wow, the Winchesters were really rubbing off on me.

"What are you doing!?" A man shouted out, I thought that it was Hendrickson but wasn't sure because I couldn't see anything thanks to Dean being my personal shield.

"I'm taking the prisoners and my men and we're getting out of here, we're not just going to sit around and wait to die!" The Sheriff said, quite reasonably I thought.

"It's safe here." Hendrickson argued back, his voice even. Was the dude insane? How was it safe here? There were already at least three men dead, and I was guessing by the end of this, there would be a hell of a lot more than that. Not what I'd call safe, and I'd called a town that was over run with supernatural creatures safe.

"There's a SWAT facility two towns over, we get there, we're safe." The Sheriff replied, a good plan.

I peered round Deans shoulder once more, my hand resting on his warm, hard back. Hendrickson was walking into the already crowded cell. "We're not going anywhere, we're gonna stay here." He announced, taking charge. Something was off though. I had no idea what, but I could tell it was.

"The hell we're not!" The Sheriff declared, at the same time that Hendrickson un-holstered his gun.

Hendrickson looked at the Sheriff before raising his gun and shooting him in the head. Right between the eyes. I gasped, unable to stop myself, horrified at what had just happened. Hendrickson had killed the Sheriff, shot him straight between the eyes. I knew shock made you do some crazy things, but this, this was too much. Too much crazy.

Dean and Sam didn't seem to share my shock though as they jumped into action the second the gun went off. They piled on Hendrickson, Dean grabbing his arms behind his back and Sam forcing him bodily towards the sink, pushing his head into the full sink as soon as Hendrickson's body was pressed against it.

As Sam dunked Hendrickson's head and started to recite the latin ritual which would expel the demon from the mans body, one of the deputy policeman came round the corner, rifle held high and aimed at us. I grabbed Hendrickson's gun from his belt and held it up in front of the men, my body being the shield this time. "Stop right there!" I yelled over the latin. The rosary beads in the sink causing the demons face to bubble and burn.

"Sam hurry it up!" Dean shouted out as the woman from earlier came round the corner as well. Thankfully this one was unarmed.

"It's too late! I already called them!" Hendrickson screamed out from behind me, sending shivers of fear down my back. I hoped to god he was all talk. With those last words the demon was exorcised from Hendrickson's body, the smoke leaving in much the same way as it had done Steven, that dude was right, this was going to be a long night.

Hendrickson slumped to the floor, Sam and Dean stood over him breathing heavily, as though they'd just ran miles.

"Is he... Dead?" The woman asked us in a small, terrified voice. She looked like she was gonna pass out on us.

I turned to face Sam and Dean, wanting the answer for that one myself. Our question though was answered by the man himself coughing and spluttering at my feet. He got up after a minute, looking confused and slightly freaked out.

Hendrickson grabbed the iron edge of the cot and pulled himself onto it, sitting with his head in his hands for a minute. "One minute I was fine and then..." He said eventually, his voice weak.

"Let us guess some black smoke forced it's way down your throat?" Sam asked, his voice free of sympathy which was a little surprising coming from the huge hunter. He was normally the most compassionate out of us all.

"I was possessed... Possessed?" The agent sounded like he was trying the word out in his mouth, seeing how it felt before he spat it out. He was having more trouble coming to terms with this shit than I had when I was seventeen, dude needed to man up I thought.

"Yeah and we owe you the biggest I told you so ever!" Dean said gently with a smile as I handed the man back his gun, wanting him to trust us. We all had a better chance of surviving this if we were on the same page.

Hendrickson took the gun and looked at it with shock still prevalent on his features. "I shot the Sheriff." He said in disbelief.

"But you didn't shoot the deputy." I joked back, apparently unable to help myself. Dean laughed out loud while Sam just rolled his eyes at me, a smirk faint on his handsome face.

Hendrickson looked from Dean, to Sam and then finally at me. "So how do we survive this thing then?" He asked us, his tone more normal now, back with us. On the same page.

~0~

Sam was spray painting devil's traps outside all of the windows and doors that I had just salted. Nothing was getting in here, that was for sure.

Dean was sat on a table looking over blueprints of the police station while the woman, who's name was Nancy patched him up with a first aid kit. I struggled to hold back a surge of jealousy as she finished and smiled at the hunter, a smile which he gently returned before pulling his t-shirt back on. Hiding away his fantastic, drool inducing body.

Dean saw me looking and I turned away as quickly as I could, but I still heard the tortured sigh that came from the man. A sigh that seemed to swamp me for a second before I caught sight of the two remaining men from the police force and the FBI, Hendrickson, who'd asked us to call him Vic, and the young looking cop whose name was Phil. Our allies.

The men were loading guns with ammo. "You know that's not going to do any good right? It's like poking an angry bear with a stick." I said nodding towards the guns as the men looked at me.

"So what do we need then Yoda?" Phil fired at me, his eyes panicked but trying to hide it with humour, seemed he'd been taking a leaf from the Winchester book. Good for him, it did make things seem a little better when you could laugh at it despite wanting to hide under the covers and close your eyes like a small child.

"Salt, lots and lots of salt, plus iron. Holy water would work too." I told them with a smile. "Don't suppose you got that?"

"Actually we do. The salt bit anyway." Phil smiled back at me in a way that had me blushing. "I can show you if you want?"

"Sure." I said following him out of the room and to a store room, that was piled high with salt. I smiled at Phil. "You expecting a shortage?" I asked as I pulled out a bag.

"It's for the roads in the winter." Phil said to me also grabbing a bag. After a minute or two he looked at me seriously. "This stuff, it's seriously messed up right? How long did it take you to learn all this?" He asked while pointing to the salt that we were heaving out. And they weren't light bags.

"I'm still learning, only been doing this for the last few weeks." I said earning myself an incredulous look from the man who couldn't have been much older than myself.

I started heaving bags into the main room that we were using as command central, Phil behind me looking awestruck.

As we entered Dean turned and looked at us with a sneer before turning back to Nancy and smiling, a hand resting on her arm as he did. "You'll be fine." He told her softly before looking back at Phil, his eyes full of dislike. "Dude, where's my car?" He asked the young police officer abruptly.

"Out back in the impound lot, why?" Phil asked.

"I got to get some stuff." Dean mumbled, shooting me a glare before leaving the room.

I turned to face Sam, wanting to know what that was all about. Man had just gone schizo on me again! Sam looked at me with sympathetic eyes before shrugging and turning back to his art work. Banksy had nothing on Sam.

I helped Phil bring all the bags into the main room as Hendrickson watched and Sam finished the final devil's trap.

"They're coming!" A desperate shout echoed around the room, announcing Deans safe return back, I breathed out a sigh of relief.

A second after the words had left the hunters mouth, something hit the building with a boom. The windows clouded with black smoke, the building shook and the emergency lights flickered, as one we backed into the center of the room, safety in numbers being my thought. My back hit someone as I watched with horror as every inch of light was blocked out by the black smoke, jolts of blue and purple swirling through it, reminding me of electricity.

I turned to see it was Dean and he tried to give me a reassuring smile, but seeing as how his eyes were as round as mine felt it did little to work.

After a minute or two the smoke abruptly left, leaving the windows free to show us a view of the parking lot out front again. A view that was much more inviting than the black smoke had been.

"Everyone ok?" Sam asked as it looked like the smoke wasn't coming back right now.

"Define ok." Vic said, his voice slightly wavering. Dean, Sam and I all shot him smiles.

"So what now then?" Nancy asked while clutching the silver cross around her neck, looking like she was holding onto it for dear life. Despite my uncharitable thoughts towards her earlier, I felt really bad for Nancy, it must suck to be caught up in this situation.

"Here." Dean said pulling a small black bag out of his huge duffel that he'd brought back from the Impala. He started passing out some small charms on long silver chains, one for each of us. His hand brushing my finger tips gently as he passed me the charm, I looked into his eyes as I took it, trying to figure out what was going on between us as we shared a long look. Dean's green eyes looked into my boring brown ones, his face confused, his breath catching in his throat as my hand rested in his.

"What about you and Sam?" Nancy interrupted our staring competition. Dean moved away from me, clearing his throat as he did. I tried desperately to shrug off the hurt that I felt, the crushing sense of disappointment.

Dean and Sam looked at each other before pulling down their tops to show us a tattoo exactly like the charms that we'd just been handed over their hearts.

"Smart." Hendrickson said looking impressed at the guys inventiveness.

"You are so taking me to get one of those tomorrow." I said to the brothers as they pulled their tops back up.

"Sure sweetheart. If we get out of this we'll take you to have a tattoo. Consider the burning pain a reward for staying alive." Dean smirked at me.

"I'll go with ya Bells." Sam muttered from next to me.

"Thanks." I smiled gratefully at the tall hunter, my head tilted up to his face. What the hell had he been fed as a boy, growth hormones?

"When did you get them?" Hendrickson asked as he put his stylish new necklace around his neck.

"Not soon enough." Sam replied darkly, a story was obviously in that, another story that I was pretty sure the brothers weren't going to share. Though they had got better at opening up and sharing with me since it'd been decided that I was going to be in this for the long haul.

"Hey that's Jenna!" Nancy declared looking out of the window, her voice holding a frown. I turned to see what she was looking at. A crowd of people, at least thirty of them were stood outside the station all of them with glowing black eyes.

"That's not Jenna anymore." Dean replied darkly as he and Sam joined us at the window.

"So that's where the demon gang went then?" I half questioned, half stated.

"Looks like." Sam said from next to me.

"So what, we've got a precinct 13 style show down going on?" I asked as I couldn't seem to look away from the group waiting for us outside. The ones that wanted to rip us limb from limb.

"Looks like sweetheart." Dean replied with a smirk to me. I smiled back at him, he frowned slightly before walking away to join Hendrickson who was putting salt bullets into the arsenal that the station had amassed over the years.

I sighed taking a seat on one of the desks that cluttered the large room. I stared out of the window and watched the unmoving group of demons that were staking us out, waiting for something. As I sat the soft tones of Deans and Vic's conversation drifted over to me. I couldn't help but overhear, well I probably could have, but I didn't want to, not when I heard my name. Anything that might give me an idea as to what was going on in Deans head though was welcome.

"Fighting demons with condiments." Vic said incredulously as he loaded another salt round into a sawn off shotgun. I wondered where he'd got that as I was pretty sure they were illegal, perhaps the evidence locker the station would have.

"Yeah well, we fight with whatever works." Dean replied helping the man.

"Demons, man this is crazy." Hendrickson said, sounding much more like the F.B.I agent from earlier.

"FYI ghosts, werewolves, vampires and ghouls are real too. Though if it makes you feel any better Bigfoot's a hoax." Dean tried to joke.

"Oddly enough it doesn't." Replied Vic. After a short while of silence Hendrickson spoke again. "What's the deal with you and Isabella?" He asked quietly.

I felt Deans gaze search me out and I carried on staring out of the window, not seeing but listening intently. "A can of worms that we haven't got space to open dude. And don't let her hear you call her Isabella, it's Bella."

"Well if it's worth anything, I think you should go for it. You find someone in your line of work that doesn't run for the hills, you hold on to it is my line of thinking." Hendrickson said softly, I saw him carrying on loading the guns avoiding Deans eye, clever man. "So she's younger than you? So what?"

"Dude, thanks and everything. But this is something I need to work out myself. Anyway I thought you were a fed not a therapist." Dean smirked at Vic.

"You ok?" Came a voice at my shoulder making me jump slightly. I turned and smiled at Sam who was looking down at me with concern.

"Of course." I replied.

"He'll come round you know." Sam said taking a seat next to me on the desk, his eyes pointing straight forward as well.

"I don't know what you mean Sammy." I said, feigning disinterest in the conversation, disinterest and boredom. Of course the opposite was true.

"Sure you don't Isabella." Sam smirked at me.

"It's Bella!" I said with a frown nudging the giant with my shoulder.

"And it's Sam." Sam laughed nudging me right back. "He will come round Bells, I know him, he's scared, but he'll realise what earlier meant soon."

"Ok, I'm really not following you now. What earlier meant?" I questioned turning my head to look at Sam for the first time since he sat next to me.

"My brother, as unselfish as he is, wouldn't just jump in front of a bullet for anyone Bells. Hell, there are times when I question if he'd do it for me." Sam chuckled.

"I'd do it for you Sammy, I love ya." I said with a smile, leaning into the giant hunter for a brief second, and I thought, skillfully changing the conversation.

"Yeah, yeah. Love you too Isabella." Sam said putting his arm around me and hugging me back, a small comfort for a moment.

"Thanks Sam. You're a good friend." I whispered to the giant as he got off the hard wooden desk and started walking away, towards Nancy who was looking seconds away from a nervous breakdown.

He turned and faced me once more, his tired eyes shining with happiness. "Right back at ya Bells."

I got up off my makeshift seat and followed my friend towards the woman who needed him much more than I did. Hopefully I could be some help to her as well.

"How you holding up Nancy?" I asked trying for the same gentle voice that Sam always managed to use in times of utter crisis. The woman just shrugged and tried to give a smile, but her eyes filled with tears. I went to give her a pep talk but was cut off mid sentence by the sound of a window breaking in one of the offices off the main hall.

Without even thinking I grabbed one of the pre-loaded guns and took of towards the intrusion at a run.

I heard three sets of heavy feet running behind me.

I burst open the office door and raised my gun, pointing it with a steady hand at a short, pretty, brunette who was seemingly stuck in the devils trap. A demon.

"How do we kill it?" Hendrickson's voice drifted over to me as my heart fluttered slightly. I was trying desperately to remember the latin for the exorcism but for the life of me couldn't.

"We don't." Sam said, and I felt a gentle stirring of the air telling me that he'd dropped his gun.

"But she's a demon." Hendrickson said, his voice hard, his gun still raised as was mine. I was right there with him.

"She's here to help us." Sam said, no hint of a joke in his voice.

I turned to look at first him and then Dean, although Dean didn't look happy with the turn of events he'd also dropped his gun. I didn't get this, why didn't they tell me we had a tame demon on our side? Did we also have a tame Angel? A tame supernatural being? Were the bad guys wanting to help us? Things like this were always easier when people were honest, that way you didn't kill or send to hell the good guys, thinking they were the bad ones.

"Is anyone gonna let me out of here?" The demon asked the room, her voice light and friendly, but sending cold chills down my spine. She sure didn't feel like a good guy.

I watched as Sam walked over and scraped away some of the paint on the devils trap so that the demon could step out. "Chivalry's not dead with you guys is it?" The demon smirked as she stepped out of the trap and left the room, Sam and Dean right behind her. I shared a confused look with Vic before we followed them as well. I vaguely heard the demons voice as we walked back towards the main room. "Does anyone have a breath mint? Some guts splattered in my mouth while I was killing my way in." My hairs stood on end as I realised that she wasn't lying. She'd killed innocent people who were possessed just to get in here. I wasn't sure about her being on our side after all.

"How many are out there Ruby?" Dean asked as we stood in the room with our arsenal, every eye was focussed on the newcomer. Sam being the only one who looked at ease with her being here.

"Thirty at least. That's just for the minute, but they all know you're here. I'd count on more joining." The demon, whose name was apparently Ruby told us.

"That's great, thirty hit men all gunning for us. Which one of them sent them?" Dean asked looking unconcerned, but the slight annoyance that his eyes held told me otherwise.

"This parties being thrown by Lillith." Ruby replied with a smirk, looking around the room as she spoke, her eyes lighting on me, Nancy, Phil and Vic. Apparently sizing up the newbies. "You managed to rescue the colt yet?" She asked the brothers, her brown eyes darting back to them. They looked shiftily at their feet. I had no clue as to what was going on anymore. What was a colt? A gun? We had plenty of them. More than we needed in fact. What we needed was to get out of here.

Ruby sighed, an extremely pissed off sigh. "Great, well I only know of one other way to get you out of here alive because of you idiots!" The demon said, her voice startlingly angry, and almost scared too. "I know a spell that will vaporise all demons within a five miles radius, me included!" Well that explained why she looked so angry at the brothers. But if she really was a trusted ally then surely the brothers wouldn't let her kill herself for us. We'd find another way right?

"Great, what do we have to do?" Dean asked, his voice happy, not affected by the fact that Ruby was going to die. I really didn't get the deal here, was Ruby on our side or not? Did we trust her or didn't we? Maybe all the bad guys could wear signs or something? That would be helpful.

"Awww... Dean you can't do anything." Ruby said looking at him with a smile that made me want to stand in front of him. It was the smile of a real predator, a smile that you'd imagine a great white shark to have. "This spell calls for someone with virtue."

"I've got virtue." Dean protested looking affronted but making me and Sam smile slightly.

"No matter what the angels did to your body Dean they couldn't have made you this kind of virtuous, no this spell calls for a virgin." Well I knew where this was going. Great.

"A virgin!? What no-ones a virgin anymore!" Dean spluttered with a small laugh.

Ruby and I exchanged a look, she knew, somehow she knew, but then her gaze slipped to Nancy as well. "You've got two here to chose from, lucky you." Ruby said with a smile as she focused back on the Winchesters.

"You're a vir.. A virg..." Dean's eyes were round as he looked at me, he seemed unable to spit the word out. I felt myself blush bright red with embarrassment as I looked right back at him, trying to maintain our eye contact.

"Yeah, I'm a virgin ok?" I said, my face feeling hot as I blushed even deeper. I couldn't look him in the eye anymore so instead I turned my gaze onto Ruby who was smirking at me. "So what I gotta do?" I asked her, my voice strong and hard. Not petrified as I would've been less than three weeks ago. It was strange how quickly you adapted to the weird when you had no other choice.

"Lay still while I cut your heart out." Ruby said bluntly while pulling out a sharp looking knife. Ok, I wasn't expecting that, it certainly kicked my heart rate up a notch or two.

"No!" Dean shouted out, his voice furious as he rushed to my side. He grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me behind him, using his own body as a shield for me yet again. "Over my dead body!"

"No worries, that's why we've got a back up. Sorry didn't mean to threaten your girlfriend Dean." Ruby sounded like she was mocking Dean, her voice held a smirk that could rival either of the Winchesters any day. If I didn't know any better I'd swear that the demon was actually enjoying this.

I moved out from behind Dean, watching as Ruby focused on Nancy, seeing how scared the other woman was, her breath coming rapidly, clutching her cross closer to her and saying what sounded like a prayer.

"I'll do it. Just don't hurt her." I said moving out of the way of Dean so that he couldn't stop me. I always knew that I'd die through something supernatural, it was just coming quicker than I imagined. And if I was doomed anyway what was the point in sacrificing someone else to give me one more day? Not when Nancy could have the rest of her life ahead of her.

"No! No-one is killing any virgins!" Dean shouted out looking amazed that this was even being considered. "Sam?" Dean looked to his brother for back-up. I was a little shocked as Sam just stood and looked blankly at Dean, then me, then Nancy. I expected him to back Dean up. "Sam, a word!" Dean barked out turning to leave the room. He stopped for a second though. "Here." Dean passed me the sawn off shotgun. "She comes near you or Nancy shoot her. And no-one kill any virgins while we're gone!" Dean said looking pointedly at Ruby before he marched from the room, Sam following him with a sigh.

I held the gun by my side, on alert, ready to shoot if the demon came any closer to me or Nancy. "So you and Dean...?" The demon addressed me with a smile. "What's he like? I've always wondered, but of course you don't know then do you?" Ruby smirked at me. "What's your name cherry pie?"

"Bella." I answered looking intently at her, wanting to know where she was going with this.

"Bella? As in Bella Swan?" Ruby said, her eyes wide as she backed a step away from me. Wow, I wished my name struck fear into the hearts of all demons like this, it would sure help us if it did.

"Yeah." I answered, raising my gun as she stepped to the side, slightly closer to Nancy. "That's close enough." I said to her, my voice a lot harder now. No way was she killing Nancy, me I could live with, or not but you get my meaning, but not the innocent girl.

Ruby looked at me, hard, for a minute, as if she was trying to decide on something. Then her hand shot out to her side, grabbed something and threw it at me. I reacted completely instinctively, I dropped my gun and went to catch whatever it was the demon was throwing at me.

I caught a stapler. I looked up confused, who threw a stapler, seriously? And when there were so many other weapons lying around the room too? When I glanced up I realised my mistake; Ruby had gone. I looked to Nancy to make sure that she was ok, the woman was fine. But her dark brown eyes were bulging out in silent warning at something behind me.

A sharp point cut into my neck, cold metal biting into my skin, the skin gave way and hot sticky liquid bled down my neck and into my chest. A small cold body pressed behind me, one hand grabbing me round the middle so that I couldn't move without the knife ripping into the delicate flesh of my neck even more.

"Sorry Bella, you seem nice and all, but I can't let you live." Ruby's voice whispered into my ear and the knife started to move across my neck, the burn intensifying.

"What about Sam and Dean!?" I gasped out, clutching at straws so that I could live. Trying not to even breath so that the cold, sharp metal wouldn't hurt even worse.

"You're right, might as well save those idiots while I'm at it." The knife was taken away from my throat, making me gasp and splutter in relief. That is until a searing pain passed through my chest. She was slowly ripping the knife into my heart. Not even having the compassion to do it quickly.

I raised my arm and elbowed her in the face with all the strength I had. The knife dug into me deeply before it was ripped away with Ruby, who stumbled backwards. Taking my chance I dropped to the floor grabbed the gun at my feet and fired. Right in the bitches own heart, making her fall to the floor with a thud. As she did I stood up as quickly as I could, feeling the sticky hot blood flow across me. "Nancy get in a devils trap now!" I barked. My theory being Ruby would be trapped if she tried to get to the other virgin. "Vic, Phil, grab a gun and guard her!"

"Bella!" I heard a distant shout as the ringing in my ears subsided, the gunshot had defeated me for a second.

I turned my head, not making the mistake of taking my gun off Ruby again this time. Dean and Sam ran into the room looking panicked. They stopped for a second looking between Ruby, who was still lying on the floor but attempting to get up, Nancy, who was cowering in the devils trap and me. I was swaying slightly on my feet, both of my wounds stinging like hell but holding the sawn off shotgun steadily at the demon. I'd been taught well.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean said, his voice furious as he came over to me. "What happened?" He asked, gently taking the gun from my hands and throwing a dark look at Sam who was stood next to Ruby, watching everything play out with a look of indecision on his face. I really hoped he worked out whether he wanted me killed so he could live sooner rather than later.

"She freaked out when I told her my name. Threw a stapler at me then tried to slit my throat." Dean wrapped two huge hands around my hips and gently lifted me onto the desk where he'd received his first aid earlier. Dried blood still staining the cheap, plastic looking wood.

"Dean, the wound in her chest's worse." Nancy said in a loud whisper from her place in the devils trap.

Deans eyes flickered to Nancy briefly before coming to rest back on me. "You wanna let me see sweetheart?" He asked me gently while looking at the blood spreading across my black tank top.

"I'll be fine." I muttered feeling a little bit stupid that I'd been caught out and almost killed. Especially when the brothers had gone to so much trouble to make sure that nothing like this could happen.

"Yeah, I'll be the judge of that, now show me." Deans voice was a little harder this time. Insistent.

"Just go Ruby!" Sam barked out in an angry shout. I turned to look at the demon and the hunter.

"Gladly, you're all gonna get yourselves killed over that girl. And she's gonna get you killed even if you do make it out. They're looking for her and they're gonna kill anything that gets in their way." Ruby spat out shooting daggers at me, a thick trail of blood leaking from her split lip. I had a moment of happiness as I realised I'd done that. No less than she deserved.

"Who are they?" Sam asked, his voice still angry, his arms crossed over his chest. Looked like he'd picked a side and that I wouldn't be spell food after all. I have to say that was a bit of a relief, especially now I'd got a brief taster of just how bad it'd hurt.

"Everything, everything dark and evil, everything that's been created by Eve. They want her. And Eve, she's close to rising, it's just a matter of time. So they're looking harder. They know she's here. They'll be coming. Vampires, werewolves, shapeshifiters, ghouls. Everything you've ever faced and had nightmares about and the worse one's that you haven't." Ruby spat out, her voice still hard but with a tone of worry as well. "And they'll kill you all for her. So I'm gone. I'm not sticking around for that, you're on your own now boys. I hope she's worth it Dean." With that the demon left the room, hopefully leaving the way she came in. Sam followed her wearily, picking up the discarded shotgun as he did.

I looked back at Dean my heart hammering slightly in my chest, making the blood leave my sore wounds a little faster. "Dean if she's right you're going to have to kill me." I whispered as he pulled out an ace bandage and some antiseptic wipes from the first aid box.

"Vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters? How will we ever cope? Oh wait I forgot we're hunters!" Dean said sarcastically. "The bitch wants you dead B, don't listen to everything she said. And if they do come, we'll deal, just like we're doing now. Anyway, I've told you, we like ya, we aren't gonna gank ya just because some demons told us too." Dean looked into my eyes as he said that, honesty and determination set deep in them, he wasn't going to change his mind. "Now show me you're chest!" Dean demanded with a raise of his eyebrows and a smirk.

* * *

**Ok... So I hope you enjoyed these chapters, review and let me know what you thought, the really do make me write faster! Until next time **

**Love always Tametiger x**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hi guys, I am so sorry for the wait, I've been desperatly trying to finish my frst story Help for the Hunted, which is now done! I hope you all enjoy this capter, I'll try and get another one out in the next few days. As always I own nothing. **

Chapter Fifteen

No Rest

"She's gone. And I've re-salted the window and fixed the devils trap... Dude!" Sam said as he came back into the main room looking weary and fed up. He glanced at me and Dean before turning away and covering his eyes with his hand.

"Er... Sam?" I said with a small giggle as I did. Wincing as the bite of the needle slipped slightly due to my laughter.

"Dean! Can't you go somewhere private for gods sake?" Sam asked going to walk out of the room, his hands still covering his eyes.

"B stay still!" Dean said, his voice full of concentration.

"Sam, Deans just stitching me back up." I said, trying desperately to stop laughing.

"Huh?" Sam turned round slowly, his hand falling from his face. He looked at Dean and me properly this time. "My bad." He said with a grin and a shrug.

Dean had somehow managed to talk me into taking my ruined shirt off so that he could look at my war wound. It may have had something to do with his amazing green eyes, or when he whispered please, or even his small smile as I gazed back at him completely dazed. But I'd complied and taken my top off. Deans shocked and angry gasp had brought me back to the present though. I'd looked down, to where on my chest there was a ragged cut just above my breasts, it looked deep and nasty. Dean had declared that it needed stitches. And he'd conned me into getting them despite my initial protests. Dude was good.

"Bells I'm so sorry. I never thought Ruby would..." He trailed off while waving a hand in the general direction of my body, his eyes being careful to look anywhere but at my underwear clad top half. I smiled, he was cute.

"It's all good." I said while waving him off. "I've had worse." And I had, by my own hand normally.

"I've got three more stitches to do B, and if you keep jiggiling up and down they're not going to look pretty, so keep still!" Dean said harshly. I looked down at him to see him closing his eyes and taking a deep calming breath. His eyes re-opening and looking directly at my bra clad breasts. I blushed bright red and crossed my arms over them. "Er... Thanks." Dean mumbled before re-taking the needle in his hands and going back to work on my cut. I noticed a faint tinge of blush around his ears, so faint that I wanted to just reach out and touch it, see if it was as warm as it looked.

"Has Dean filled you in on his plan?" Sam asked me, sitting down on a desk near us, his eyes straight in front rather than looking at me as he spoke. A blush working its way to his cheeks as well.

"No, what is it? Can I help?" I asked trying hard to keep still in my seat despite wanting to flinch away from the white burning pain where Dean was stitching me up with nothing but numbing cream. It didn't numb all that much.

"We're gonna fight." Dean muttered. "So yeah, I think we'll need your help." I beamed as I realised that I could actually be useful, and as it dawned on me that I was slowly but irrevocably becoming a team with the brothers.

~0~

I lugged bags of salt from the store room with Nancy and Phil, our plan ready and about to be carried out. "I don't know about you, but when this is all over I'm going to have so much sex!" Nancy declared to me. Her eyes, bright and wild, telling me she meant just that. Maybe Deans, Charlie Sheen, attitude was catching?

I grinned a wide toothy grin at the woman. "Oh yeah, I'm with you on that sister. Lots and lots of sex. I don't want to be sacrificed for my virtue ever again." I meant it as well, a certain green eyed hunter popping into my head as I talked seriously about popping my cherry.

Phil's eyes had grown wide at the conversation and he was looking in-between Nancy and me. "Not with you." We both rushed out at the same time, exchanging smiles as we did. Nancy was really starting to rub off on me.

Phil rolled his eyes and walked off to get more salt while me and Nancy took a breather. "You really think this is going to work?" She asked me after a second.

I glanced at her, not entirely sure how to answer. I was pretty sure that someone would die. Even more sure on my track record that it would be me. But the plan was a good one, almost fool proof. Almost. So I lied. "Of course it's going to work. Don't doubt Sam and Dean, they know what they're doing." I told her with a lot more confidence than I felt.

"Thanks for that Bells!" Came a voice with a smile in it from down the corridor, making both me and Nancy jump a little. I turned to see Sam smiling widely at us both. "We're ready, you guys?" He asked.

I glanced at Nancy who nodded, her face set and trying to hide the fear she was so obviously feeling. "Yeah we're ready Sam." I said giving the woman a hug before turning and heading back with Sam.

I entered the main room where Dean and Vic were waiting for us. "Here; a two pump action rifle, the kick backs mild, you should be able to handle it." Vic said holding out a gun and a bullet belt for me. I frowned at the man, hell no. I'd probably been trained in firearms more rigorously than he had when he'd been learning to be a fed.

"Thanks, but this one's much more my style." I said with a forced smile, picking up the sawn off that I'd used earlier. I cocked it, checked the barrels, inserted two salt rounds and pulled it back to one with a satisfying click, pulling back the pump action so that the gun was ready. I then turned and smiled at Vic who gave a weak smile back.

Dean and Sam stood behind him with grins that stretched ear to ear on their faces.

"We ready then?" I asked pulling on the bullet belt across my shoulder. I hoped I looked as cool as I felt.

"As ready as we're gonna be." Vic said with a sigh, he looked worried.

"Cheer up Hendrickson. Think of it this way, this time you are actually fighting the bad guys and not the innocent ones." I smirked at him as I started moving towards the door I was going to be stationed at. The door directly opposite the one Sam was going to be manning, it didn't take a genius to work out that the brothers wanted to keep an eye on me. It strangely didn't bother me all that much though. In fact it felt nice to be cared about as well as being trusted to do something dangerous and tricky. Not something that would have happened in my old life. Another silent two fingered salute to Edward.

"Ready!?" Shouted out Dean from a distant corridor, his voice loud and in charge echoing down the otherwise silent station.

"Ready!" Sam and I shouted back, smirking at each other as we did.

"Let's do this then!" Dean shouted again, making me chuckle as I headed to my door and moved the salt lines from it with my foot. As soon as that was done I moved back. Shotgun at the ready and heart hammering hard in my chest. I felt slightly sick and light headed as I waited.

Luckily I wasn't waiting long enough to talk myself into a full blown panic attack as the door burst open. Four demons running in, one after the other.

I shot the first and landed my hit, the red headed woman falling with a thud. I cocked the gun and shot another, it joined the first in a pile on the floor. Out of ammo and with a demon baring down on me I swung out the butt of the gun, hitting the demon in the face and knocking it to the ground. I moved backwards as I re-loaded my gun fast. But the forth demon was on me, I hadn't been quick enough.

"Duck!" Sam shouted. I dropped to the floor just as a gunshot echoed around the corridor and my fourth demon joined the heap in front of me.

Sam and I stood back to back, firing at demon after demon. Occasionally hitting out. A couple got passed us but more had joined the pile on the floor.

The doors slammed shut and we heard the distant sound of something falling softly to the floor outside. Like thick snow in winter. Sam and I glanced at each other before running together to the main room. Dean and Hendrickson were already in there fighting five or six demons, more coming into the room and circling us.

"Now!" Dean screamed out as a demon caught him round the face.

I dove at the cassette player and pressed play, shooting a demon over my shoulder as I did.

Sam's voice come out loudly over the PA system, echoing around the police station. The latin words coming off his tongue effortlessly. The demons stopped fighting and started screaming, trying desperately to escape before they were sent back to the depths of hell where they belonged. But we'd locked the demons in with us. Salt lining the doors and windows from the outside.

I watched in repulsed fascination as the demons were exorcised en mass. The innocent humans falling to the floor one by one as the demon left their bodies, creating a swirling vortex of black cloud on the ceiling until Sam's final words echoed throughout the building. "Audi nos!" The black cloud vanished in a rein of fire that had me looking away and covering my face it was so bright.

They were gone. We'd fought and won! And no-one had died! I was ecstatic as I looked at the Winchesters with a huge smile on my face. Theirs equally big as they grinned back.

"Good going Bells." Sam congratulated me as we stood smiling in relived silence.

"Thanks, nice work yourself." I said back casually, but the huge smile that refused to be wiped off my face ruined the effect slightly.

"You too Hendrickson, good going. And thanks for having our backs." Dean said grinning at the man who was smiling in a shocked kind of way.

"Yeah thanks." The bald man replied sounding just as shell shocked as he looked.

"You didn't do too bad for you're first rodeo sweetheart. How are the stitches holding up?" Dean asked me as he put his gun down and sat on a desk, taking a small breather as the outside door opened and our back-up arrived, also grinning in that shocked way.

"Fine thanks." I said.

"Hang on, that was you're first time? You've never fought before? But you knew as much as those two." Hendrickson said sitting down in a chair himself.

"I faced a couple of demons before, but never like that. These guys took me in and trained me." I told Hendrickson seriously so that he knew just how important that was too me.

"Only cause you begged us." Dean said back with an eye roll. "And you were just too pathetic to say no to."

"It was either that or you let me die!" I exclaimed while chucking a balled up piece of paper at him with a giggle. "Anyway, you would've said yes no matter what." I added with a smirk.

"And why's that B?" Dean asked also smirking at me, his eyebrows raised and his eyes twinkling in a way that made me feel like jelly.

"Cause you thought I was awesome since the day you met me D!" I said with a huge grin and an eye wink.

Dean was saved having to answer me as the previously possessed people started waking up. The first being a young girl who looked no older than me. "What's happened, where am I?" The girl asked looking really freaked out.

~0~

"So what are you going to do then?" Sam asked Hendrickson after the possessed people had all been sent home with a bullshit story in their heads and we'd packed our stuff up ready to leave.

"What, about you guys?" Hendrickson said looking over the three of us stood together.

"Yeah." Dean replied, looking slightly nervous. But as he'd explained to me before he'd not really had the best experiences with the law. Mostly because he broke it all the time really.

"I'm going to kill you." Vic replied looking serious.

"Excuse me?" I asked in my most innocent voice. My heart starting to hammer again and hurt the stitches in my chest.

"You heard me, I'm going to kill you. And don't play the innocent with me Bella, you can handle a gun better than most men I've met." Vic smirked at me. I grinned back, high praise I thought, especially as I'd been doing it less than a month. I'd never been particularly great at anything, academically I was ok, never really top of the class but I kept my grade average high, not great at sports, the only thing I ever really excelled at was reading and no-one gave out medals for that. So I grinned at finally having found something that I was good at, something that mattered. "I'm going to phone in that you were blown up in the helicopter as we were trying to get you all to super max." Hendrickson said with a smile. "So you best get out of here. And not pop up on the radar again!" He added sternly.

"Thanks, for everything, ya did good." Dean said stepping forward and shaking Vic's hand.

"You're welcome, just don't let me see ya again ok?" A laugh accompanied this request from the fed agent.

"We'll try." I chimed in.

Our goodbyes said, exhausted but happy we left the station where I'd withstood my first real test and came out on top. Where we'd gone to war and won. Heading as far away as we could get before we collapsed from fatigue.

We didn't make it too far, only seven towns before we had to pull over, we were all yawning and stretching.

Sam went to get some food and beers on Deans orders while the older Winchester started pulling out our bags, which left me to check us in. I half staggered half walked towards the reception area not caring about what state the room was in as long as it had a shower and a bed. Otherwise I was going to start to fall asleep on my feet.

"Hey." I said walking up to the desk which was being manned by an unremarkable middle aged man, my voice coming out as tired as I felt.

"Yeah?" The man drawled his eyes taking in the bandage around my neck and the various cuts and bruises across my face.

"I need a room for the night please." I said trying to put on my best sweet innocent voice hoping that he wouldn't care enough to ask me any questions that at the moment my mind wasn't working quick enough to answer.

"Sure." The guy said. "That'll be fifty bucks, money up front."

"Er yeah fine." I pulled out a bunch of notes, the money that Alice had given me. That I'd not even thanked her for yet. "I need two beds in the room please." I said, surprised that he hadn't asked me before hand. That was normally one of the first questions that the motels asked.

"Only got rooms with one left. You want two rooms?" The man asked me. Oh shit. What did I do now? I didn't want to mess up again. And if I got two rooms that threw up the question of sleeping arrangements. Who slept where and who slept with whom? But if I only got one that meant someone was getting the floor and after the last day we deserved to at least get a decent nights sleep.

"Have you got two next to each other?" I asked, if he didn't I'd just get one, I didn't think too much space in between the rooms was a good thing. Even if we weren't wanted by the F.B.I anymore.

"Yeah sure. Rooms ten and eleven. Even got an inter connecting door. Will that do you?" The man grunted apparently getting annoyed with me now. Which I thought was a bit off considering that I was a paying customer and all.

"That's fine thanks." I said handing over a hundred dollar bill, one of seven that were still in the thick pile of cash that I possessed.

I got the keys and hurried out of the room and back to Dean who was waiting against the Impala with folded arms, his face as laced with fatigue as mine must have been.

"Took your time sweetheart. Which room we in then?" He asked picking up all three bags with one muscled arm.

"Either ten or eleven, take your pick." I said with a nervous smile. I was probably about to get it ripped out of me for messing up yet again, but I was too tired to care much now. I was barely keeping my eyes open in the cold night air while stood upright. As long as I had a bed I couldn't care less about having the piss taken out of me.

"Huh?" Dean asked frowning slightly at me, a smirk forming on his face as he realised that he was about to have an opportunity to bust me.

"They didn't have a room with two beds in, only ones with one. And I decided that I didn't want to sleep on the floor. So we got two rooms, which means two beds, they've got an inter connecting door so don't start moaning." I groaned heading off his argument before he'd even started it.

"Good choice, it'd be a squash trying to get three in a bed. Especially when you like to spread out B." Dean said with a smirk while walking towards our rooms for the night.

"Yeah and it'd be a cold one the way you like to hog the sheets." I quipped right back an identical smirk covering my face.

"Not to mention that me and you'd would be up all night sweetheart, the way gigantor snores." Dean chuckled as I unlocked the door to room eleven.

"And we'd both probably be chucked out of the bed when he starts doing his dance routine in his sleep!" I chuckled right back as I pushed the door open.

"Ah, home sweet home!" Dean declared throwing the bags at the bottom of the bed and throwing himself onto the sofa in the modest sized room.

"Budge up!" I called before jumping over the back of the sofa to join him. "God I feel like I could sleep for a week!" I sighed as I folded myself into the small space of the couch that Dean wasn't occupying.

"I think my feet are gonna be asleep for a week!" Dean said pulling his feet from under my butt. "Did you have to jump on them?" He asked me as he rubbed them.

"Stop being a wimp! I'm not that heavy." I sang back at him, happy that we were now safe and able to relax.

"Yeah? Tell that to my bruised and broken feet!" Dean said with a wry smile, obviously trying to wind me up.

I grabbed a pillow and bashed him round the head with it. "I'm not fat take it back!" I squealed with laughter in my voice as I hit him again.

"Never!" He called grabbing his own cushion and hitting me back with it.

"Take it back!" I called again as I kneeled on the sofa, gaining the upper hand as I hit him repeatedly on the head.

"Ok, ok, I give. You're not fat!" Dean said collapsing back into the sofa, a huge grin on his face and a chuckle in his voice.

I sank back into the sofa as well, a grin still on my face, my eyelids drooping a bit as another yawn attacked me.

"Hey D?" I said softly as his hands started absently rubbing my feet that I'd slung on him after I'd kicked my shoes off.

"Yeah B?" Dean asked still smirking as he did.

"Thanks. For earlier. No-ones ever jumped in front of a bullet for me." I almost whispered, my thanks coming from the heart, the sincerity blatant in every letter.

"Yeah well..." Dean shifted uncomfortably, obviously not use to anyone thanking him.

"How you doing anyway?" I asked while nodding at his shoulder and changing the topic, I didn't want him to feel anymore uncomfortable.

"I've had worse, don't worry. You?" Dean asked, his eyes holding concern for me for a brief moment.

"I've had worse too." I said back with a smile. "Ok, so I've just been on a hunt. What do we do now?" I asked the hunter, wanting to know the guys usual routine.

"Now we eat, drink and sleep sweetheart. Why else would we have got a room?" Dean said sarcastically, but a blush coloured my cheeks as I thought of all the other reasons we could have got a room. My earlier thoughts of losing my virginity popping back into my mind unbidden. Bad thoughts that needed stopping until I was awake enough to try and have a proper conversation with Dean, there was too much unsaid, too much hurt to leave it alone. That and I'd never been particularly good at keeping silent when I should.

"Ok, thanks for that." I rolled my eyes comically so that he would see. "I mean after tonight what do we do?"

"Well we hole up for a little while, wait for the bruising to go down, have a bit of fun, if you can convince captain Killjoy of that anyway. Then we start looking for the next hunt." Dean told me, his hands resting lightly on my feet, shivers of want and lust travelling from my feet and up my legs to a pit of anticipation and slight trepidation in my stomach. I was being ridiculous, I blamed my lack of sleep and the near death experience.

I yawned again, my arms stretching above my head and out to the sides, like a teenage boy in the cinema with his sweetheart for the first time. However this wasn't a move, Dean and I were at opposite ends of the sofa and I'd never be that obvious or forward. As my arms travelled out I gasped; pain shot through the ragged hole in my chest. For once not metaphorical.

"You alright B?" Dean asked me sitting upright, all traces of sleepiness gone from his face to be replaced by concern and worry.

"Yeah, stitches just pulled that's all." I said casually, though it stung really bad. Experience had led me to guess that I hadn't ripped any of the stitches, just moved too quickly in the wrong direction.

Dean eyed me shrewdly as though he didn't quite believe me but didn't question what I'd told him. And after a long minute he went back to relaxing on the sofa. "Where's Sammy with the food, I'm starving." Dean grumbled along with his stomach.

"You're always starving." I teased him laying my head back on the sofa, a soft smile of fondness spreading gently across my face.

"I'm a growing boy!" Dean jested. "Besides, there's nothing wrong with liking food."

"There isn't anything wrong with liking food you're right, but when you shovel it down like you do it becomes down right antisocial." I laughed out.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever B." Dean smirked his hand trailing lightly up my foot to my ankle. A giggle escaping me as I snatched my foot away; it had tickled. Dean sat up straighter and shifted so that he was facing me, a huge smile threatening to rip apart his face. "Your ticklish?" He asked me while raising his eyebrows.

"No, I just don't like people touching my ankles." I lied trying to prise my poker face from my sleep deprived facial muscles. I knew what would happen if I admitted that little weakness.

"Really?" Dean asked disbelievingly, an evil smile accompanying it.

"Really." I said back while moving away from the man a bit on the sofa. I knew what was coming next, despite my attempts at stopping him.

Sure enough Dean lunged at me, pinning me to the sofa below him and attacking my sensitive sides with his long fingers. Peels of laughter shook me so hard that it was almost painful, my limbs flying out in a pitiful attempt to stop him. "I give, I give, stop! Please! Uncle!" I cried out in-between laughs.

Dean stopped with a chuckle, his eyes lighting up and a rare true smile consuming his entire face. He looked so handsome right then, so carefree and young. He looked like I was sure he would've done if he'd never been a hunter. Perfect.

I stared breathlessly into his eyes, the smile on my face stilling but the breathing still laboured as the weight of his stare back pinned me to my place on the sofa.

I was mesmerised again as he stared at me, his long dark lashes fluttering slightly as his amazing green eyes raked my face, coming to rest back on my eyes after travelling to my lips.

Everything stopped, time, the world, my breathing as he lowered himself from above me. His actions careful, measured, giving me time to stop him.

When Deans lips were mere inches from mine, when I could taste his sweet hot breath on my lips, I leant up, closing the distance between us.

Our lips brushed gently, his full bottom lip feeling like velvet as it softly touched my own. His hand moved from my side to my face, cupping my cheek in it as his lips became more insistent, moving with mine. My hands went to his muscled back, clutching him tighter to me.

I grabbed his bottom lip softly with both of my lips, pulling gently and making him smile through the kiss. His tongue darted out of his mouth licking my top lip and sending pulses of pleasure down to my very core.

I moaned ever so slightly, unable to stop myself, but it changed the mood palatably. Deans hand moved from my cheek to my hair, fisting a chunk of it roughly, though not hard enough to hurt, just pull ever so slightly. My hands clutched at his t-shirt, bunching it up in my fists as I brought his full body weight down on to me. Our lips warm, hard and fast. Our tongues battling, our lips crashing, hands pulling and bodies touching.

Deans free hand moved to my shoulder blade, holding me closer to him, pulling me up so that there was nothing between us, so close that not even air could chill our still clothed skin.

He moaned as I bit his lip softly, sucking the soft silky flesh into my mouth and licking it before releasing it. His moan the sexiest noise I had ever heard in my life, driving me wild, and making wetness pool between my legs that had started to move to either side of his hips without my permission or even knowledge.

Deans hand moved from my shoulder bone down my side to my hip, my breath hitching slightly as he skimmed my breast, wanting nothing more than for him to touch me, to use those skilled hands on me. Desire, lust, want and need racing through my body like never before. His hand clutching my hip sent fire down to my groin, making me desperate for some friction, crave it even. Without conscious thought my hips bucked, grinding against him as I sought out the friction that I so badly needed. Rubbing against a hard bulge in his jeans. Pure and utter pleasure swept through me as the two spots that were meant to come together met through heavily clothed bodies. Again I moaned, unable to prevent it.

The noise seemed to wake Dean up though. He pulled gently away from me, his eyes looking as though they were in pain as the cold night air attacked our chests.

"What's wrong?" I whispered still with the fabric of his t-shirt welded into my hands.

"You're nine years younger than me, and you've never done this before." Dean said, looking like he was talking himself out of this, whatever this was.

"Practice makes perfect." I said back raising myself to him again. I more than wanted this, I needed it, my body was crying out for it. Desperate to feel his touch again, to feel his lips mould themselves with mine.

Dean groaned, an almost pained sound but kissed me again, softly this time, gently, almost as though he was scared of breaking me. The urgency had gone from our kisses, but a softness, a tenderness, that hadn't been there before took over. Our hands stroking rather than grabbing, more innocence in our kisses and touches. Getting to know one another rather than forcing our bodies to mesh.

Deans phone rang, making us both jump as one, before we both started laughing. He rested his forehead on mine as he reached in-between us and pulled out his phone from his pocket. His hand coming so close to the area that was so hot it felt like it was burning up that I gasped. Deans eyes shot back to me, a lazy smile and a lift of his eyebrows caressing his features as he pulled out the phone and answered it.

"Yeah?" His eyes never leaving me as he spoke into the phone. "Oh yeah sorry man. Eleven." He said before putting the phone down and lifting himself off the sofa and off me. I almost whimpered as he removed himself off me so bad was my need for him. But luckily I managed to avoid that embarrassment.

"Sam's back." He told me unnecessarily.

"I worked that one out all on my own." I replied sarcastically but with a smile, sitting myself upright on the sofa as I did. The tiredness that I'd felt all but a distant memory now.

"Alright, no-one likes a sarcastic bitch." Dean said with amusement and lust dancing in his eyes as he looked at me. A deep red blush flamed on my cheeks.

"Except for you of course." I teased with a wink as the door opened and Sam stepped in.

"Thanks Dean." Sam bitched as he shut the door behind him, bags of greasy smelling food clutched in his huge hand and a six pack of beer held tightly in his other. "I've been stood outside for ten minutes!"

"Fresh air's good for you Sammy! And you're into all that fruity jazz aren't ya?" Dean teased his brother in a cheerful voice while taking the bags of food off him. "What you got anyway?"

~0~

Ok sooo... what did you think of this chapter, it was a long time coming I know. let me know if you loved it or hated it! I'll post the next chap in a few as! love aways tametiger x


	16. Chapter 16

Thank you guys sooo much, the support I'm getting for this story is amazing! I love hearing that I'm not the only one who's enjoying this! You're all fantastic and because of that I've been writing frantically to get this to you guys! Hope you enjoy it! As always I own nothing at all :( not even Dean, sigh.

Chapter Sixteen

For The Wicked

We sat up together for the next couple of hours, eating the food that Sam had brought and drinking the beers, laughing and joking, teasing and bitching. I kept talking about the job that we'd just done, going over bits in a play by play. It both amused and annoyed the brothers in equal measure. They did a hunt and forgot about it now normally, but it was my first time and I was on a high, mainly as I hadn't died.

After a while though Sam started yawning. "I'm beat, I'm gonna grab a shower and hit the sack." The tall man told us as he stood up and grabbed his bag from next to the door. "See ya in the morning dude, night Bells." He called as he headed for the door that led to his room for the night.

"Night Sammy!" Dean and I chorused together. Sam just smiled and rolled his eyes, apparently giving up on us.

As soon as the door shut behind Sam the mood in the modest motel room that Dean and I were sharing changed. Suddenly there was an awkwardness there that hadn't been before. Dean was sat on the bed and I on the sofa, neither of us looking at each other, neither of us saying anything for a minute or two.

"I'm gonna grab a shower." I said standing up and heading for the bathroom, wanting to be on my own for a few minutes while I figured things out. Like what the hell was going on, and what I wanted to go on. Important life decisions like that, hoping that the hot water would help.

"Hang on sweetheart." Dean said getting up off the bed.

I turned to face him, my heart fluttering nervously as he approached me. He stood in front of me, towering over my small frame as he reached down. My breathing hitched in my throat as his hand came down to my neck. Excitement and want filled me again, despite my promise to myself that I'd sort this out in my head before anything else.

Dean gently ripped the bandage off my neck, making me wince and take an automatic step back from him. He'd tried to be gentle but it hadn't worked, dude had just taken half my freaking skin with the bandage.

"Ouch!" I moaned with a frown.

"It was gonna be no good in the shower sweetheart was it? And the one on your chest won't be either. You can take that one off yourself though!" Dean smirked at me before heading back to the bed, apparently pleased with himself.

I marched in to the bathroom with a frown, muttering to myself as I did. I stepped into the grotty room and shivered slightly repulsed, the cleaner obviously hadn't been in here for a few days.

I turned the shower on as hot as I could get it and stripped, tearing my bandage over my chest off with another wince. Damn things hurt coming off.

Closing my eyes so I couldn't see my filthy surroundings I stepped under the burning hot, yet soothing water. Relaxing as it washed away the dirt, grime and stress of the day.

As I washed myself I let my mind wander. The first thing it came to was Dean. Of course it was Dean. It was always going to be him now. The man infuriated me, the way he was always hot and cold. One minute seeming to want me like I did him, the next pulling away and saying no.

But I had a problem; I was falling in love, and I didn't no how to stop myself. It was a freefall and I had no parachute.

If Dean and I carried on like we were I would end up in bed with him, of that I was sure. And I wouldn't regret a second of it, I was also sure of that. For me it would be special, something to treasure and look back on with a smile and a warm feeling. However it would be just another night with another woman for Dean. I knew that. And I also knew there was a chance that he would regret doing it. I wasn't sure if I could live with that.

Also there was the question of what then? Say we did sleep together, then what? Dean had already told me he didn't do dating. So what, would we just carry on being friends, or sleep together but that was it? I didn't think that would be enough for me, but I also didn't think that Dean could give more. That he wanted to give more.

I had my answer, I knew I had my answer. But how was it, that when something was the right thing to do it could hurt this much? It could bring tears to my eyes and pull out something vital from my chest that left a dark gaping hole that I thought only one other man could have left and did the first time the douche bag did leave.

Relationships sucked. Men sucked. Or maybe there was just something wrong with me. Yeah that was probably it. I mean after all this Eve thing needed me, me out of all the people in the world, which meant I was different to everyone else, wrong somehow. Tainted. I was doomed before I'd even started.

It was with a heavier heart and a small tear running down my face that I stepped out of the shower.

I opened my eyes only to want to close them again. Not only had I forgotten my bag in my haste to leave the tense atmosphere of the room but the motel bathroom was not equipped with towels. What kind of place didn't have towels? I sighed knowing I either had to get changed back into my ruined clothes or stick my head round the door and hope that Dean didn't catch a glimpse of anything.

I picked up my clothes from the heap that I'd thrown them in and looked at them, if I got re-dressed into them I'd be needing another shower. My top was stiff with dried blood and holey from where the knife had sliced into it. My pants were dirty and ripped, some un-known substance staining the knees. I'd have to throw them away, they were beyond salvageable. Which left option number two. Great.

I opened the door fractionally and stuck my head through the tiny gap, making sure my body was well hidden behind the thin ply wood.

Dean was lying on the bed, his eyes staring at the ceiling, a small frown across his otherwise flawless face.

"D? Can you chuck me my bag please?" I asked him, making him jump so hard that he actually landed back on the bed with a bounce. I couldn't help the giggle that escaped me.

"What?" He asked me with a deeper frown, sitting up on the bed as he did.

"My bag?" I asked still giggling a little.

"Why?" Dean asked me looking confused and not moving off the bed. It must have been nice where he was because he was still half there.

"Cause it has my things in it." I said slowly, making sure to ennunciate each word carefully, adding a roll of my eyes as well.

"Uh... Yeah... Sure." Dean said climbing off the bed and grabbing my bag. "B?" He said as he approached the door slowly.

"Yeah?" I asked a little impatiently, the cold air nipping at my skin now and making me long for a towel and some clothes.

"About earlier..." Dean started saying rubbing the back of his head with his free hand, still a few feet back from the door.

There was a lot of earlier to talk through, the whole day had felt like a week. And I did want to talk to Dean, I really did. But my legs were starting to turn numb, and my lips felt like they were going blue. My feet blocks of ice on the cold tiled, dirty floor.

"Er... Can it wait till I'm dressed D?" I asked, still impatient. But my toes were about to become frost bitten.

"What?!" Dean asked his eyes growing wider, almost comically, as he swallowed visibly. If it weren't for the fact that my hair was dripping down my back in the most unpleasant way I might have laughed.

"I want my bag, so I can get dry and dressed." I said, holding my arm out of the door towards the bright pink bag that held towels and warm clothes.

Dean thrust the bag at me and spun around on his feet, his shoulders tense and angry as he stomped back to the bed. What had got into him? Hot and cold. That's why nothing could happen. That's why nothing more would happen.

I closed the door with a snap and routed through my bag, hoping Alice would have seen my need for a towel when she'd packed it. The omnisipent little pixie had. See saw everything, which for once I was more than glad of.

Ten minutes later, dry, happy and warm I stepped out of the bathroom. Dean no-where to be seen. The room was empty.

My heart dropped a little when I realised that he wasn't here, a stupid reaction considering what I'd decided with myself, but never the less one I couldn't help but have.

I dropped my bag and trudged to the bed, the tiredness that I'd previously felt coming back to me. My head had barely touched the thankfully soft pillow before I'd fallen asleep.

~0~

I slept fitfully, waking up every twenty minutes or so despite my exhaustion, my eyes flickering open and searching the room wildly. Missing something. Who was I kidding? Missing him.

It was three hours before he came back, the door opening softly, his footsteps barely more than whispers on the worn brown carpet. He tiptoed across the room, opening and closing the bathroom door as quietly as he could, as I pretended to sleep unaware. He didn't even switch the bathroom light on until the door was closed behind him. A surprisingly thoughtful and sweet gesture that I'm sure he didn't even realise he was doing.

Minutes later and I fell asleep again as the soft whoosh of the shower came through the closed door.

I woke bleary eyed to the sound of someone rummaging almost silently through the room. "Shit!" Came a barely audible whisper that could have only fallen from Deans mouth. As my eyes became use to the dark I saw his body moving around the room, hands stretched out towards the floor looking for something. It would have been almost comical were it not for the fact that he was naked. A blush flared across my cheeks unbidden and I squeezed my eyes closed so I couldn't see anymore.

Eyes shut was no better, the memory of his perfectly muscled back flashed in my head, the strong legs, the toned and shapely ass that had me literally drooling. I thanked god that I'd only seen his back, that was enough to feed my imagination for months. Though I found it almost unfair how he looked so perfect undressed, almost a god were it not for his scars that somehow made him more sexy.

I heard him sigh out in relief as his hands came to rest on what sounded like material. I imagined him leaning down and routing through it. The muscles in his back tensing as he dug through his bag, his huge, manly thighs taking his weight. I tried desperately to think of something else, anything else. Maths, science, Britney frigging Spears, anything. But nothing worked, the image of Deans naked psyhique was permanently burnt into my memory.

After a few minutes of rustling I heard Dean sigh again, almost a pained sigh before the springs of the bed creaked and his body tipped me as he climbed in.

Dean turned his back to mine, his feet curling under him and unwillingly resting on my bare legs.

"Jeeze!" I shouted shooting up in the bed and moving my legs swiftly from his freezing feet.

Dean shot up too, turning the light on as he did. "What is it? What's happened? You ok B?" He asked sounding worried, his eyes raking me in assessment.

"No I'm not! Keep your freezing feet to yourself dude!" I shouted, rubbing my legs which still felt the sting of his cold toes against them.

Dean looked blankly at me for a second before he burst out laughing. I shot him a glare before settling back into the bed. Pulling the covers tightly round me so that I was back within the comfy warm confinement of my own body heat.

"Sorry sweetheart." Dean said, the laughter ruining his apology slightly as he slid back under the covers as well, turning the light back out as he did.

We both laid on our backs, our bodies centimetres from each other, silence in the room punctuated by a chuckle coming from Dean every now and then.

After a few minutes I poked him in the ribs. "Some of us are trying to sleep, shut up!" I hissed, but I was smiling as I did. The annoyance leaking out of me like it always did whenever I was close to Dean and he was happy. It was like his mood was infectious or something.

"Hey!" Dean said, not even bothering to keep his voice down as he rubbed his now apparently sore ribs.

"Sshh.." I giggled out, snuggling deeper into the covers, a smile crossing my face yet again.

I felt a smirk cross Deans face, even from a distance, like the air around it had changed somehow.

"Dean! Stop!" I screeched out as his hands had found my ribs and started tickling me mercilessly.

"Say sorry B!" Dean sang as his fingers continued their torture.

"Sorry B!" I said in-between uncontrollable peels of laughter.

"Not good enough!" I heard Deans smile, almost seeing it as my eyes once more adjusted to the inky black darkness of the room. His fingers still attacking my sides in what can only be described as unjust malice.

"Sorry! I'm sorry! Dean I'm sorry!" I cried out as I couldn't take it anymore, my laughter almost a long shriek now.

Deans hands stilled and left my body, a deep velvet chuckle ringing out that send shivers through my heaving body, I was still laughing and trying to catch my breath at the same time.

"That was evil!" I gasped, turning so that I could see his face. He was looking at me with a smug grin on across it.

"No poking me in the ribs when I took a bullet for you was evil. You should respect your saviour." Dean grinned at me, humour in his eyes.

"You're right. Thank you. I mean it. I'd be dead if it weren't for you." I said with sincerity, my tone serious now.

"Yeah. See. Respect. That's more like it." Dean teased me, unable to take any form of a compliment. His grin still firmly in place.

"Hey I'm trying to have a moment here if you wouldn't mind." I said while crossing my arms and trying to look stern.

"Sorry. I'll behave. I think you were speaking about how heroic and manly I was." Dude just wouldn't quit.

"Not to mention modest." I replied with my own smirk.

"And handsome." Dean quipped right back.

"Irritating."

"Charming."

"Annoying."

"Sexy."

"Hey, we're talking about you here, not me aren't we?" I giggled, glad that I was able to hold my own with the brothers when they got going, especially Dean, I had a feeling I wouldn't be where I was now if I couldn't. I'd probably be right back in Forks or dumped on Bobby's doorstep.

"We were, but you're right you are." Dean said with a smile that lasted for all of a second before his face dropped a little, his eyes becoming serious for a change.

"I knew it. I'm sexy." I chimed in, wanting to go back to the teasing and look away from his mesmerising eyes. Knowing that I'd be lost in them if I carried on looking. That I'd cave in on the promise I'd made myself earlier. The one where I remained friends with Dean but that was all.

"Yeah you are." Dean said again, a finger gently stroking my chin, lifting it so that I was looking back into his eyes.

"Dean, I don't think..." I trailed off as my eyes met his once more, all thought leaving my mind.

"Don't think what Bella?" He asked as he scooted closer to me in the bed, millimetres separating us now.

"That this is..." Again I lost my train of thought. All I could think of was how good his lips felt against mine.

"This is what?" He asked, shifting closer still, his hand now gently stroking my arm, from my wrist to my shoulder.

"Good idea." I murmured, my voice low, my arm tingling in a delicious way. I was a goner.

"Why?" He whispered to me, his lips so close to mine that I felt them move.

"Erm... I can't remember." I mumbled before my lips found his.

We kissed slowly and passionately for a while, innocent kisses that somehow promised more. Our hands were entwined under the covers. Fingers slotted around fingers, thumbs stroking palms and hands.

Dean broke the kiss first; he placed a chaste kiss to my lips before laying back on his pillow, his eyes focusing once more on mine. Our hands still joined together.

My mind whirled with all the things I wanted to say to this amazing man laid next to me. I love you, we shouldn't be doing this, let's do this now, what will you be like later, please kiss me again, that was fantastic, promise me we'll still be friends. Stupid conflicting thoughts and words, I didn't know which to say, well other than not the I love you bit. So I settled on saying nothing. Waiting to see if he would say something first.

He did. As we stared into each others eyes Dean untangled one of his hands from mine and brought it up to my face. "You're beautiful sweetheart." He said, making me blush, but not helping with the inner turmoil that I was feeling.

"You're amazing." I replied honestly, moving my cheek further into his hand.

We laid in silence just looking into each others eyes until I fell asleep once more.

~0~

I woke yet again while it was still dark, my chest and throat both burning. I was laid in Deans arms, pressed tightly to his body. His hands resting around my waist.

I wanted to revel in the warmth and security, the happy glow that it gave me. But the pain was a little too strong. So instead I scooted away from him, inch by inch, trying desperately not to wake the hunter. I managed to get out of bed and tiptoe to my bag, bringing out a bottle of painkillers that had been stashed in one of my inside pockets.

I picked up the painkillers and my purse while I was at it, then pulled out a long sleeved and rather baggy t-shirt, trying my hardest to be silent. I carefully pulled my shirt over the nightgown that I was wearing and pushed my feet into some sneakers. I then crept from the room, the still heavy breathing coming from the bed telling me that I'd managed not to wake Dean up.

I stood outside the room for a second, the night air balmy with a slight chill to it that raised the hairs on my arm. Most of the rooms in the motel were dark and nothing moved in the sparsely lit parking lot directly in front of me. I stayed still for a few moments non the less, wanting to be double sure before I left the safety of the brothers in the middle of the night.

As nothing moved or made a noise for a few minutes I decided that I was ok. I walked slowly to the vending machine near the reception wanting to grab a coke to take my tablets with.

Coke got and painkillers taken I leant against the wall for a moment, trying to focus on anything but my neck which had started screaming with pain, I must have caught it on something in my sleep.

Stood behind the vending machine I was obviously hidden from sight as a deep voice that I recognised rung out from the other side of the machine, the footsteps approaching after the voice had echoed over to me.

"I do want your help Ruby... Ok we want your help... I know... No Bells is off limits... She's helping us too... Dean... That isn't funny... Yeah she was... Dammit Ruby if you're gonna be like that then Dean and Bella will never trust you... Well Dean will never trust you then... No we're all a package... Yes including Swan... I know we need you but... Ok... Ok... Thanks." Sam must have hung up the phone, breathing out a deep sigh as he did that echoed over to me clearly.

My mind raced with what I'd heard. Sam was still talking to Ruby, still wanting her help after today? I thought we were friends? I thought he was one of my best friends, one of my only friends. What did this mean? Was he going to hand me over to her so that she could kill me? It wasn't like he was protesting too much when she wanted to earlier. Was I safe here with Sam and Dean?

I stood for a second, hardly daring to even breath in case he caught me. But if he wanted to kill me, if Sam agreed with Ruby why hadn't he done it before now? He'd had plenty of opportunity, plenty, and he could of made it look like an accident. I couldn't believe that all of what had happened between me and Sam, all of the talks, the jokes, the laughing, was just a smoke screen, I couldn't. He was my friend, and if I wanted to know something then I should ask him.

I stepped out from the vending machine that had been my cover and came face to chest with Sam, he towered over me with a stressed and upset face. An expression that turned into shock when he saw me.

"Bella? What are you doing - did you - why are you out of bed? You ok?" Sam asked me, jumping from surprise and perhaps panic to worry for me. His features still not under control yet, and he still hadn't tried to kill me, a good omen I thought.

"Hey Sammy, my cuts hurt." I said raising both the painkillers and coke so he could see them.

"Oh, yeah, right. You ok?" He asked me managing to do a better poker face now.

"Will be as soon as these kick in." I replied leaning against the cold metal of the vending machine and staring up into his handsome face. "So you wanna talk about what I just heard?" I questioned him, not beating around the bush. Wearing my own poker face as I did.

"Depends on what you heard." Sam said, crossing his arms and trying to look intimidating. A look that didn't work on me anymore, I'd known him long enough now not to be frightened by the giant. Even if he was talking to a demon about killing me.

"Everything. You gonna hand me over to Ruby? Let her kill me?" I asked a heck of a lot more casually then I felt inside.

"What, no, no!" Sam sounded shocked and a little pissed that I'd think that. "God no, why would you think that?!" Yeah I was right.

"You're talking to a demon who tried to kill me less than seven hours ago, I dunno, maybe my imaginations working over time." I replied sarcastically. "And you weren't exactly in my corner when she suggested ripping out my heart."

"That's because Dean was your corner, he stood in front of you to stop her, you didn't need me too." Sam said defensively.

I hated that we were arguing but I needed to know. I had too. "Sam, I thought you were my friend, no matter who or what was gunning for you and who was in your corner I'd have been there too." I took a deep breath, I was more angry and hurt than I'd realised. "So you talking to her, you sure you're not gonna hand me over with a little bow on? Or kill me yourself?"

"Don't be so dramatic Bella! Ruby's helping us stop Lillith, we need her! And no I'm not going to kill you, and I won't let anyone else kill you either! Ruby's promised not to hurt you again. She really is trying to help us." Sam sounded like he was pleading with me there.

"Who you trying to convince Sam? Me or yourself?" I asked carefully before starting to walk back towards the room that Dean and me had been sharing.

"You don't know anything about it Bella! You've known us for what a month? And you think you know everything? You don't know anything! You don't know me, and you sure as hell don't know Dean! And what's more you're never going to know us!" Sam shouted at me, his breath heavy as though he was running, his voice angry and loud in the otherwise silent area. "Don't kid yourself Bells, you're not one of us and you won't ever be one of us. As soon as we find Charlie that's it, your gone. And you know what else? Dean and me, we'll forget you, just like Dean forgets all the other girls he fucks."

Tears burnt my eyes as his words stung worse than the knife cuts that I had.

"He won't remember you, you know that, no matter how good you were he's had better!" Sams words were just ugly insults being thrown at me now. "You think you two had a future? Get real, you barely have a present!"

"I'm going back to bed Sam, and I suggest you do the same thing." I said, no emotion in my voice at all as I turned my back on someone I'd thought was my friend. "And we haven't slept together Sam." I added quietly as I reached the bedroom door.

I closed the door softly behind me, leaning my head on it and letting the tears pour down my face as the hurtful but truthful words that Sam had spoken washed over me.

"You want to tell me what the hell just happened sweetheart?" Dean asked me darkly, switching on the bedside lamp as he sat on the bed watching me.

Oh dear, poor Bella, she's never gonna have an easy time of it is she? Let me know what you thought! I'll do my very best to get another chapter out in the next few days for you! Love as always Tametiger xx


	17. Chapter 17

Again the response to the last chapter was phenominal! Thank you all so much! This is the last chapter I'll have out before christmas, but I think you'll like it. Be warned there may be some lemony goodness ;) Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Chapter Seventeen

Sharing

"You want to tell me what the hell just happened sweetheart?" Dean asked me darkly, switching on the bedside lamp as he sat on the bed watching me.

My heart lurched and I tried desperately to stop the flow of tears that cascaded down my face as I looked in shock at the handsome man who was sat glaring at me from the bed.

"I think you should ask Sam that." I said in a quiet voice as I moved from the door, going in search of the beer I knew we still had left.

"Oh I will, I wanna hear it from you first though." Dean told me, still glaring at me even as I avoided his gaze.

"What do you want to know?" I asked trying to avoid answering him directly. I found the beer and sat on the arm of the sofa, twisting off the top and taking a sip.

"For one why you two were re-enacting a scene from Jerry Springer in the car park at four in the morning." Dean shot at me, his voice angry but calm somehow too.

"I went to get a coke so I could take some painkillers." I replied looking at the bottle in my hand rather than Dean, knowing I'd be unable to hold back the tears if I looked at him.

"So you got a coke. Then what?" Dean tried prying the information from me.

"What did you hear?" I asked him, again avoiding the question.

"You'd make a damn good politician B." Dean bit out. "I heard enough, now tell me what happened." His voice rose slightly, harder than I'd ever heard it before.

"I overheard Sam having a phone conversation. With Ruby." I replied, my voice barely a whisper, not knowing how much to say and how much to hold back, I certainly didn't want him knowing the stuff that Sam had said about him and me.

Dean breathed out at my confession, his voice slightly softer as he spoke again. "And?"

"And I was pissed, but before I was pissed I was scared." I admitted my weakness. "I asked him if he was gonna hand me over to Ruby so that she could kill me or was he going to do it himself. He argued with me, saying that he wouldn't let anyone hurt me. But then I reminded him how he wasn't so gun-ho about protecting me when Ruby wanted to rip my heart out of chest." I said, anger seeping into my voice as I relived the conversation that may have ended my relationship with Sam and may end it now with Dean too.

"Fair point." Dean agreed, his voice soft still. "So how did you get from that to 'Jerry'?"

"Sam was upset, and defended Ruby, saying she was on our side and that she wasn't going to hurt me again, all that bull. I don't believe him though. Sorry but she's a demon. And she's already tried to kill me once, not exactly on my christmas card list. You know if I sent christmas cards anyway. So I asked Sam if he was trying to convince me or himself. That's when the shouting started." I mumbled before taking a long sip of the beer still firmly clutched in my hands.

Dean sighed a heavy sigh. "You gotta understand Sam's got this thing with Ruby. Like Clarice and Hannibal, he doesn't trust her, but he does. And she's a psychopath."

"That makes me feel so much better." I said with an eye roll.

"You and me both sweetheart." Dean sighed once more. "B?"

"Yeah?"

"Sam said some shit, that wasn't right and wasn't true." Dean told me almost sounding like he was in pain, like he normally did whenever he tried to open up.

"No he told me the truth. I know he did. Just the truth hurts and all that jazz." I replied still refusing to look at Dean.

"Maybe some of it was the truth, but not all of it. I'm not gonna just hand you over to Charlie, and I'm sure as hell not gonna forget you sweetheart." Dean took a deep breath, his voice still sounding pained, letting me know he hadn't quite finished sharing yet. "You're one of us Bella. And... Er..." Dean stopped then, apparently unable to go on.

I heard the creek of the bed and Deans footsteps as he approached me on the sofa. The beer bottle was taken out of my grasp and I was pulled to my feet by my now empty hands.

"You're not just another girl to me B." Dean told me sending tremors through my body. I dared to look at him then, and saw nothing but sincerity on his face. He leant down and his lips brushed mine for a few seconds.

"But we haven't got a future, he was right about that." I said as he stood still holding my hands, still looking at me. "And some of the other stuff he said, I'm not one of you. I've only known you a month."

"Five weeks and three days, almost a month and a half sweetheart. And you are one of us. You're brave, and strong, kick ass, funny, good looking. Hell how could you not be one of us." Dean smirked at that making me chuckle despite the sadness I felt. "And as for a future, I don't see any of the three of us living long and happy lives, we're gonna die bloody is my thinking. But when that happens it'll be Sam, me and you sweetheart." Dean told me, his eyes burning brightly with something as he leant down to me again.

Before his lips could quite me, and stop the buzzing in my head, could quieten the voices that were so insistent, I had to broach the other stuff. While Dean was in the sharing mood, cause I was sure as hell it wasn't going to last.

"Dean..." I started moving away from him slightly but not letting go of his hands, hoping he'd still feel like sharing with me. "What about the other stuff, from earlier." I asked quietly.

"You were right. As much as it pains me to admit it." Dean teased me with a smirk. "You're still you, just younger to what I'd thought. And you haven't run off screaming yet." He added under his breath, a reference to his conversation with Hendrickson earlier that I wasn't supposed to have heard so I kept my face blank.

Dean leant down for a third time, capturing my lips with his own, softly yet insistent.

My hands wrapped themselves around Deans shoulders, having to stand on the very tips of my toes to do so. His travelled to my waist, his palms pressing into the small of my back and moving us closer together.

My heart sped up and I started to tingle everywhere as I opened my mouth to let Deans probing tongue in. Our kiss becoming deeper and more intense.

Somehow we ended up on the bed together, our lips never parting, our hands now exploring new places. Mine travelling down his muscled arms and his toned back, being careful to avoid the bullet wound that he was still suffering with. His hands stroked my back, my shoulders, my arms. I'd never known someone touching you in such innocent places could be so erotic, could turn me on so much.

As Deans skillful hands gently brushed the small of my back I let out a moan into his open mouth. My back arching towards him thrusting out my breasts, brushing them hard against his warm and solid chest.

Dean attacked my mouth with a need that was almost desperation, hard and insistent. His stubble itching softly against my face in a delicious way. His hands pulling me roughly on my ass so that I ended up straddling his lap.

Without concious thought or reason I ground my hips into his, gaining friction and increasing my need. Both of us moaning into each other and upping the ante.

Deans hands travelled slowly up my waist, then my stomach, his hands spread, his fingers gliding and feeling. He reached the tender skin just below my breasts and my breath caught, wanting nothing more than for him to touch me.

I rocked my hips again, my hands tugging at his hair bringing him impossibly closer to me.

I groaned out loud, the sound alien to my own ears. Who made that noise? I'd never made a noise even similar to it as Deans hands gently cupped my breasts in his huge hands. Even sheathed in two tops and a bra my nipples hardened at his skilled fingers. His kneading and gentle squeezing having me gasping, groaning and rocking my hips into the hard bulge in the shorts he'd been sleeping in. The thin material straining against the huge hard muscle that it was concealing.

Deans lips left mine and started feverish kisses across my cheek and then to a spot on my neck that had me gasping. His hands tore at my top t-shirt as mine struggled with the shirt he'd worn to bed.

Pulling apart for a brief second we had the clothes off, his bare skin hot to the touch, my nightgown making my erect nipples all the more obvious. We came together again, hands touching the new areas that we'd just unveiled. Strangled moans and gasps escaping from between our entwined lips in a beautiful symphony.

Dean kissed my neck again, down to my collar bone and across to the other side. My head and neck arched impulsively sending me pressing harder into his groin. Moans escaping us both once more.

Deans hands started gliding up my bare legs, from the crook of my knee upwards. Every inch higher he got making me squirm with anticipation and longing.

I tugged at his hair as his mouth found another sweet spot just next to my shoulder, nipping at it softly with his teeth then flicking his tongue out to caress it. The man was driving me wild.

Deans hands reached the tops of my thighs my nightgown now rucked up around my waist. My breath caught in my throat, desire pooling between my legs, scared, nervous but wanting this more.

He broke away from me for a second and looked me in the eye. "You ok sweetheart?" He asked me softly, his eyes full of the same lust I was feeling, I could feel his heart beating a rapid beat against my chest, keeping in tempo with my own.

"God yes!" I half said half groaned, frustrated that he'd stopped, wanting more of this feeling, the feeling that I was travelling higher, almost flying if only he'd touch me more, kiss me more, carry on.

Dean chuckled before turning us so that I was laid on my back and he was laid next to me. I whimpered slightly as his warmth and muscle was taking away from me. But the noise was taken away by Deans incredible lips. One hand supported him as the other carried out his journey upwards.

His hand reached my panties, and brushed me so softly through them that I'd have thought I'd imagined it if it weren't for the amazing tingling that followed. Something that had me groaning with pleasure once more. My body lifted off the bed automatically, wanting more of the touch.

Dean was quick to catch on, his hand brushing against me harder this time, stroking me repeatedly and bringing me to a new high. My breathing became ragged and my chest tight with this new feeling.

Deans hand slid under my panties, making me gasp again. A finger carried on stroking me in that wonderful spot, taking me higher still. Then a finger gently but firmly pushed it's way inside of me. I was ready to accept it, the wetness between my legs making it slide easily into me, the combination of his finger moving inside of me and another stroking me had me almost screaming with want.

Dean stopped kissing me but his fingers carried on their ministrations. His head dipped low next to my ear, his lips brushing me as he whispered; "let go sweetheart."

His words made me tumble over an edge I didn't know I was standing on. Waves and waves of pleasure crashing through me making my hips rock into his hand, my body arch away from the bed and screams issue from my mouth. "Oh my God! Oh god! Oh god! Oh Dean! Dean!" I screamed unable to stop myself.

I came down from my high slowly, my body still humming with pleasure, my heart still hammering, and gasps still coming from my mouth.

I turned my head to see Dean smirking, a soft, gentle smirk. I kissed him hard and passionately desperate for more. Wanting him to show me everything, teach me everything that he could.

I wanted to touch him, to feel him, to make him feel as good as I did right then.

My left hand moved away from his face which I'd been cupping, bringing him in closer to me, and travelled down his awe-inspiring six pack. My fingers softly tugged at the elastic waistband of his shorts. Deans breathing grew sharper as I tugged his shorts down with a boldness I didn't even know I possessed.

My hand traced the light hair line that lead down from his stomach, stopping to stroke the denser hair that it grew into. Dean moaned as I curled the hairs around my fingers, liking the feeling of them under my touch.

I slipped lower, half excited and half scared. What if I did it wrong? He had a lot of people to compair me to after all.

My hand finally found it's goal. And wow. He was huge. I knew that, there was no-way he couldn't be. He must have been at least eight inches of pure hard muscle. My hand travelled the length and slowly worked it's way back down, feeling the silky smooth skin, grasping the long shaft in my hand slightly harder as I heard Deans moan.

My hand moved up and down, slowly to start with but faster still as Deans moans intensified. My mouth kissing a slow trail down his god-like body.

I stopped as I reached his waist, wanting to taste him, see how he felt. I looked up feeling excited and emboldened by the noises I'd made this man make. Dean was looking at me in a way that made my stomach lurch, almost pleading with me with his eyes.

I leant in, inhaling the sweet cloying smell that was purely Dean and took the tip of him into my mouth. He tasted like nothing I'd ever had before, but it was delicious.

His gasp as I swirled my tongue along his tip had me smiling, I took more of him into my mouth, my hand automatically wrapped around his base. I sucked, and licked, and tasted, his moans and groans and gasps spurring me on faster. Soon his hips were bucking him further into my mouth, his breathing rapid, his hands wrapping themselves gently into my hair.

"B, B! Stop, I'm gonna... B I'm gonna..!" Dean gasped out his hands letting go of my hair, his hips bucking now frantically into my mouth, making me gag slightly as his steel rod was forced to the back of my throat. "Bella!" He shouted out as something warm and liquid hit the back of my throat, I swallowed automatically, not even realising what I was doing. The substance thick going down my throat and seemingly endless.

Dean jerked a few more times, curse's and my name spilling loud from his mouth. "Fuck! Oh fuck! Oh shit! Oh Bella! Bella! Fuck!" Until he came to a stop, his body sagging and collapsing onto the bed. I realised him from my mouth and sat up with a small smile. Glad that I'd seemed to be able to make him feel just as good as he'd done with me.

His arms reached out and pulled me onto his chest. "Jeeze B. You never done that before?" He questioned me, his arms stroking my back and making me feel safe, secure, warm and happy. Almost glowing in fact.

"No. Was it..?" I trailed off, I probably wasn't suppose to ask. I didn't know the etiquette here. What was I suppose to do, say? This was all new to me.

"It was freaking amazing." Dean said, a smile in his exhausted sounding voice. "Jeeze Bella." He said again, his breathing slowing down slightly.

Minutes later and I heard the heavy, soft breathing that told me he'd fallen asleep. I smiled and curled myself further into his arms, not regretting a thing. My eyelids fluttering closed so that I could join him in sleep.

~0~

I woke in daylight this time, bright daylight leading me to believe that it was probably late morning if not the afternoon. I was still curled around Dean, who was still gloriously naked but now hidden by a layer of covers. His thumb was softly stroking my back in a lazy, slow pattern.

I looked up and smiled brightly, but nervously at him. Last night had been without a doubt the best night of my life, well the bit with Dean had been anyway. However I didn't know how Mr hot and cold would react to it.

To my utter relief Dean smiled gently back at me before leaning down and kissing the top of my head. "Morning B." He whispered with a smile.

"Morning D." I replied sleepily.

Dean's smile faded a little as he carried on stroking my back. My heart dropped a little as I realised that he was probably gonna turn cold on me again. "What's wrong?" I asked trailing my fingers lightly up his stomach, enjoying the feeling of his toned muscle reacting to my touch by little shivers of pleasure.

"I'm gonna have to get out of bed and talk to Sammy." Dean said, trying for funny but missing it by a long shot. My body became slightly rigid as I remembered mine and Sam's conversation last night.

"What you gonna say?" I asked him trying to sound casual but coming off a million miles from it.

"I have no idea, I don't do the whole touchy feely sharing, what's wrong with you crap." Dean told me with a sigh. "Can't you do it for me?" He asked with a small smirk that came across as resigned.

"Only if you want to re-enact the civil war." I replied with my own sad smirk.

Dean sighed and got up, pulling his shorts on before he climbed from the bed so I didn't get a glimpse.

"I'll get breakfast while you talk to him." I told Dean getting up and grabbing my bag so I could get dressed. Knowing the one thing that would cheer Dean up right now was food. I'd even be the bigger person and get Sam something he actually liked.

We got dressed and left the room in silence, me using the bathroom to change in and him the bedroom.

As we went to part Dean grabbed hold of my hand and gave it a slight squeeze. "Sweetheart..." He said while looking into my eyes.

"Yeah?" I replied slightly dazed, lost as I was in the deep green colour that mesmerised me so.

"Don't forget the pie." He said smirking and walking away from me towards Sam's room.

~0~

I made sure to take my time at the dinner that was five blocks away from the motel. I wanted to give the brothers as much time as I could. That and I wasn't so sure I wanted to face Sam yet.

Last night had been horrible. The Sam bit anyway. I'd been scared of him, scared of what he'd do. And he'd really hurt my feelings, he'd said what he thought, and it had cut me deeply. I didn't know if I could just forget that. Well that's if he wanted to make up anyway. He was probably still as pissed and upset with me as I was him. In my eyes though I'd done and said nothing that I hadn't meant. Nothing that wasn't true. Maybe he was right and I was a little dramatic about the whole thing, but I knew I had a point. I knew it because Dean hadn't told me otherwise and he was always the first to point out when I was wrong, despite everything between us.

I got the food and coffees before walking back slightly more briskly than I'd walked to the dinner, I didn't want the food going cold after all. Cold flapjacks sucked. And cold coffee was worse.

I unlocked Deans and my room hesitantly, only to find it empty. I shut the door behind me and took a deep breath feeling slightly anxious, more so than when we'd been facing the demons back at the police station.

I knocked on the door next to the bed Dean and I had been using, hoping as I did that the walls weren't as thin as they looked.

They were. "That'll be her now dude. Can't you just say you're sorry and all that? Make-up? Have a chick flick moment?" Deans voice came through the wall muffled but still audible.

"No. Man, she thought I was gonna kill her." Sam said his voice sounding pissed.

"You blame her, after Ruby?" Dean replied in a quieter voice.

"I know what I'm doing Dean, she doesn't, she knows she doesn't and yet she got up in my face. Over something she knows jack about." Well looks like we weren't going to be kissing and making up straight away after all.

"Again, I say, can you blame her? Dude what's wrong with you? It's Bella? You two have been one step away from braiding each others hair since ya met." Dean said, his voice concerned and a little pissed too.

Sam sighed, sounding deflated. "You're right, you're right. I should just make up with her. Not her fault I guess." Too late Sammy I thought to myself. Too late.

I knocked again, with a little more force on the thin door this time. Pissed off and wanting to eat my breakfast. Preferably alone now, just so I didn't get in anyone's face.

The door swung open and Sam stood in front of me, his face an apologetic mask. "Hey Bells." He said in a soft voice.

"Hello." I replied coolly and walking passed him to the table that was in his room that was just slightly bigger than the one Dean and I were using.

I put the food down on the table. "Flapjacks for you D, flapjacks for me, and rabbit food there. Three coffees. Enjoy." I said my voice hard and flat.

"Did you get...?" Dean started saying to me his voice almost anxious.

"Cherry pie for afters." I declared with a smile for the man. Not pissed with him, just his stupidly large brother.

"Bella..." Sam started saying to me, his voice low.

I grabbed a coffee and my flapjacks before walking back towards the connecting door. "I'm gonna go eat in there, see if there's anything on tv." I said, my voice still cold and hard. Still pissed.

I shut the door behind me and sank onto the sofa, letting out a sigh as I did. I ignored the little voice in my head telling me to swallow my pride and let it go. Switching on the television instead. Even over the dull tones of Dr Sexy Md I heard the brothers conversation, despite trying actively to tune it out.

"Boy it's cold in here." I heard Sam mutter as a chair scraped back over hard floor. Wow, these walls must have been made of straw or something, it did nothing to stop sound travelling.

"It's a lot colder where you're sitting dude." Dean replied sounding like he was talking through a mouthful of food.

"She's still mad at me." Sam stated.

"Yup."

"Think she's gonna stay mad at me man?"

"Yup."

"Guess I should go in there and talk to her." Sam said sounding a little nervous, which made me smile. Good.

"Yup." Dean replied, obviously still eating and sounding completely unfazed.

"You wouldn't want to do it for me? She's your girlfriend after all." Sam said, almost pleading but a smirk in his voice as well, as though he was trying to bait Dean.

"Nope." I heard the smile in Deans voice and couldn't help but smile with him, he wasn't going to bite.

"It's a good thing that you're not getting paid by the word Dean!" Sam said, his voice exasperated, their conversation making me smile despite myself. I knew I'd cave into Sam's apology no matter how mad with him I was, the brothers were just too damn funny. And I loved them, they were like family, well Sam was anyway, Dean was starting to become more than that.

I arranged my face so that I didn't have the grin on it as the door to the room gently opened. I knew I was going to forgive Sam, but I'd still make him work for it. Dude owed me that much.

"Bells... Can I talk to you?" Sam asked me sounding like he'd rather do anything but that.

I muted the tv and turned to face him, keeping my stoic poker mask firmly in place. "Go ahead." I said curtly. He was wearing a t-shirt with a purple unicorn on it that was making keeping a straight face damn difficult though. Had he lost a bet with Dean or something?

"Bells... I'm really sorry about last night. I said a lot of stuff that was out of order. And a lot of it was wrong. I messed up and I hate us being mad at each other. You're one of us Bells and I'd be really pissed at myself if we couldn't make up. Please forgive me. I'm really sorry." Wow, that was... Dramatic. In fact that was so dramatic and almost pathetic that I couldn't help the smile that burst from me.

"I forgive ya Sammy." I said still smiling, like I said I couldn't stay mad, he was just too damn funny.

"Aww... That was beautiful. Someone hold me!" Dean quipped with a smirk on his face.

"Shove it Dean! Just because you're incapable of opening up, doesn't mean that we're all emotionally retarded." Sam replied with a grin of his own.

"I'm not incapable dude, I've just not been hit with the Oprah stick lately." And so it carried on. The three of us, on speaking terms once again.

Well I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Make my christmas and let me know if you did! Merry Christmas to you all, even if you don't celebrate it have a great holiday :) see you next time. Love always Tametiger xx


	18. Chapter 18

**Hi guys, I'm so sorry about the wait for this chapter especially as I've had such an amazing response! Rl sucks an d without boring you if I'd of carried on with this story beforenow bells would have shot dean then turned into a lesbian as all men are arseholes and obviously I couldn't do that to you! Instead I'm took my time and am back with two new chaps for you that I hope you enjoy! **

* * *

Chapter Eighteen

Hunters Dream

We stayed in the motel for a couple more days, having some down time as Dean called it. We watched a few films, drank in a couple of bars, watched loads of crap telly and ate a bucket load of junk food.

Eventually though Sam found us a job in Illinois, a possible haunting of an old trucking stop where three women were murdered brutally. Colour me shocked.

The building was haunted, but by the murderer rather than the women as we'd originally suspected. Which was a slight problem.

"Sam it's Tucker!" I screamed down the phone to Sam who was digging up the woman's graves with Dean. The evil ghost with bright shining red eyes coming for me. I shot it once in the head, watching as it disappeared but keeping my eyes open for when it came back as it was bound to do.

"What is?" Sam asked down the phone line, and he was the smart one supposedly.

"Two down, six letters, Tucker the cross word clue!" I shouted with an eye roll, walking around the abandoned shelter by myself, my heart pounding with terror, my shotgun weighing heavily on the muscles that were killing me due to being thrown into a wall.

"What?" Sam asked me.

"The ghost you idiot! It's Tucker not the girls!" I said firing off another round as the ghost placed a hand around my neck from behind, not able to help the little squeal that escaped me as I did.

"Oh crap, he's buried the other side of the cemetery! Bells get out of there!" Sam shouted at me, his voice hard and worried at the same time.

"No can do Sammy, he's got me on lock down." I said, the ghost had made escape impossible, supernaturally barring every exit. I'd already checked. It would've been nice if at some point since I'd been with them one of the brothers could've metioned that ghosts could do that.

"How many rounds you got left?" Sam asked me, his voice laboured as though running.

I checked how many I had and groaned, day just got worse and worse. "Five." I said letting the not small amount of panic I felt seep into my voice and echo around the empty space I was trapped within.

"Damn!" I heard a hard voice come from the line but it wasn't clear enough to hear. "Yeah dude, she knows. Right Bells?"

"Know what? Not a psychic Sam!" I bit out a little on the tetchy side.

"To find some iron if you can." Sam told me over the loud beating of my frantic heart.

"Yup got that. Not a lot of that in here though Sammy." I said doing another scout of the small, derelict, dirty building just to make sure.

"Crap." Sam sighed down the line.

"Crap!" I shouted as the ghost made a lunge for me from a blind spot to my right. I dodged and lifted my gun, shooting the ghost to nothing for another few minutes.

"Bells!" Sam shouted.

"I'm here!" I called back, walking backwards to a corner so that I could see anything approaching.

"We're almost there Bella hold him off!"

"Really? I was just gonna give up! Or take a little snooze and hope that I wouldn't be ripped to shreds!" I said sarcastically, my voice loud and shrill.

I saw a movement out of my eye in a dark corner opposite me. I raised my gun and shot once more.

"Ok we're here Bells." Sam said, his breath coming heavily down the line which was now full of static.

"Well hurry the fuck up! I've only got three rounds left then I'm ghost chow!" My terror was starting to get the better of me. Why the hell did I think hunting was a good idea? Why?

The ghost appeared less than a foot from me, his eyes seeming to glow in the darkness that surrounded him. I lifted my gun once more but he caught it and tugged it free of my aching arms before throwing it to the side with a clatter.

The ghost lifted me by my throat, his dirty long nails cutting into the tender skin of my neck. His hands feeling greasy and bile inducing. I dropped my phone as I lifted my hands desperately trying to pry the ghosts from my neck where he was slowly choking me to death, a grin stretching across his malicious and twisted face. I kicked him, but nothing happened, my foot went through him. His grin widened and with a roar he threw me across the room.

I landed hard, black spots appearing in front of my eyes, and a horrible whistling noise screaming through my head as it collided hard with the concrete floor. I thought I felt the sticky flow of blood coming from a gash but everything was a little muffled. Especially my thought process.

Despite everything hurting, not really knowing what was going on and the black fuzziness that was starting to take me over, I knew I had to defend myself. From something. With the gun. I had a gun. I needed to get it. It would stop the... Thing.

I reached out, almost blindly groping for my gun, knowing it was near by but not where. Then I felt a heat on my face, and bright light made me close my eyes. I was pretty sure that meant I was safe, that it was going to be ok now.

~0~

"B! Shit! B! C'mon wake up sweetheart!" A frantic voice seeped through the black, trying to wake me up.

"Bella, Bells! Dean, she's hit her head." Another voice came through the black fog that was holding me under.

"I can see that! We need to get her to a hospital." Soft hands pulled me into a hard chest, jostling me. "Why did we leave the girl on her own to face the ghosts? What were we thinking Sammy? This isn't how we hunt, leave the hundred and twenty pound girl to fight the monsters while we're safe and sound in the bone yard." I tried very hard to wake myself up, to tell the voice it wasn't his fault. Was a danger of the job. I tried fighting the black mud that I was struggling against.

"She's not a just a skinny little girl Dean, she's a hunter. We trained her to do this, it's like asking yourself why you let Ellen lose on a ghost by herself." The second voice said, saying some of what I wanted to. Though I had no idea who Ellen was.

"Cause I wouldn't dare tell her she couldn't do it." The first voice muttered close to my ear.

"Exactly. Would you tell Bells she couldn't do something? Dude last time you told her that she was too weak she almost broke your hand and you were wearing six inch padding!" A chuckle came from the second voice, it sounded almost proud. He sounded almost proud. I knew who he was, I did, I was sure. If I could just fight the inky blackness I'd get it I knew I would.

"Yeah she did. Thought she was gonna try and break my face too." The first voice said also with a chuckle. His voice was like warm velvet, helping to lift the dark, though not completely. The voice, it belonged to someone I loved, I knew that much.

"Dude, you know what she's gonna say if you start blaming yourself don't ya?" The second voice was so compassionate and warm. He was my friend. It was just his name I was struggling with now. It began with an S, I thought but I wasn't sure.

"That I'm an idiot and that's it not our job to look out for her. Yeah. I know. But still..." Dean! That was his name Dean!

My eyelids fluttered open, painful and heavy, my head throbbed and I felt a bit sick. But I knew everything now. I could remember everything.

"Its not your fault." I slurred out, wanting to make sure that was the first thing that I said.

Dean almost dropped me out of shock, which had Sam howling with laughter and me smiling in an absent kind of way. It would be funnier if my head didn't feel like it had been carved open.

"B! Gave us a scare there. You ok?" Dean asked me quietly, about fifty yards from the Impala now, much to Deans relief I was sure, I must have been killing his arms.

"Yeah. But it isn't ya know, your fault." I said not dropping it.

"Tell ya what, we can argue about that all you want, I'll even listen, as soon as we've got you to a hospital. Ok sweetheart?" Dean said with a smile, his eyes never leaving my face.

"K." I said smiling back even though it hurt my head even more. I couldn't help it, it was like looking at the sun and having him smile at you.

"Here Sammy, you drive!" Dean said chucking the keys at Sam and climbing into the back seat, me still tightly in his arms.

~0~

I had a mild concussion and had to have seven stitches at the back of my head that were a million times worse than the injury itself. But I lived to tell the tale and fight another monster, so that was apparently all that mattered.

After a few days of rest it was on to another town and another hunt. This time ghouls.

Ghouls were tricky, and in the end it was down to hand to hand fighting with knives. I'd never felt so powerful in my life, kicking the ass of a huge ghoul. And what's more I didn't get injured for once! Sammy got a dislocated shoulder which Dean put back in place when the job was done, but other than that we came off relatively unscathed. A success.

Again after a couple of days we moved on. Next hunt a werewolf. Which I put down all on my own. With my shiny new gun which I'd brought myself. It gave me a satisfaction I can't even begin to explain.

Another hunt, witches.

Another hunt, demons.

Another werewolf.

More ghosts.

A Wendingo, which was a tricky son of a bitch.

You name it in three months I was sure that we'd hunted it. All the while still looking for my father and trying to see if Lillith was breaking any more seals.

It was a hell of a three months. I'd done things I'd never though that I would, I'd said things that I'd never have said before, ever. I'd killed things with my own hands. I'd learnt first aid while doing it. I'd got rip roaringly drunk. I'd even got stoned once. I'd been arrested twice more. Everything I thought I'd never do I did.

The one thing that I would have thought I'd have done though, I hadn't. Not yet.

Dean and I still hadn't... Made love, I guess. It wasn't that we both didn't want to. Cause oh dear lord did we. No the problem was that just as we were about to we always got interrupted for something more important. I swear, if I didn't know any better than I'd have thought that Sam and Bobby were doing it on purpose.

'Oh they're finally naked, time to ring!'

'Hmmm... That sounds promising, I'll tell them about that lead I found on Charlie!'

It was almost painful now. And damn right annoying. I was one more failed attempt from doing it in public and not giving a shit.

It was one such occasion, just as we were about to... When the phone rang. Again.

"Just ignore it. Please Dean!" I begged, lust and want in my voice, my hands clutching at his amazing body. Wanting more than anything to feel him in me.

"What if it's..." Dean started saying, his breath coming out in pants.

"I don't give a shit if it's Lucifer himself. They'll call back!" I said moving my body so that I was telling him exactly what I wanted.

Dean went to kiss me again, his hand going back to my breast once more as his phone stopped ringing. We were so close...

Then my fucking phone had to ring too.

"I swear to god someone better be dead!" I practically screamed as I reached out from under Dean to get my phone from the bedside table.

"Yeah?" I answered abruptly. My voice letting the irritation I felt flow through it.

"Bella?" The voice asked sounding confused.

"Yeah." I answered again, the familiar gravily rough voice making me want to travel to Souix Falls and beat him. "What's up Bobby?"

"Dean isn't answering his damn phone. You guys ok?" Ok if that was why he'd rang I was going to scream.

"Yeah, we're fine. What's up?" I asked again, not even caring that I was being rude.

"I got a lead on you're daddy Bella." Bobby informed me, taking away some of my anger but not all. Probably just another dead end.

"Shoot." I said, waiting for the information and moving away from Dean slightly.

"A buddy of mine; Rufus, the boys know him, worked a job with him in Michigan, a routine haunting. Asked him real casual like where he was heading next." Bobby said then paused, apparently wanting to keep me in suspense.

"And...?" I asked while rolling my eyes. What was this ten ways to frustrate Bella to death?

"He's going to New Hampshire, apparently they've got a demon infestation. Charlie said they're gathering there, almost as though they waiting for something."

"Waiting for what?" I asked, a sharp thrill of fear travelling up my spine.

"It's one of two things. It's either a seal, or it's Eve. If it's Eve then Charlie's there to stop her, and so are the demons. If it's a seal then the demons are there to break it and Charlie wants to save it. My guess, it's the second one. But maybe Dean should ring Cas, having an angel up the sleeve might be a good idea before you go riding into town half cocked." Bobby said, I silently agreed with him, that would be a better idea.

"When did Rufus hear it?" I wanted time frames.

"Day before yesterday, you're daddy should be there tomorrow tops." Bobby said in his gruff voice.

"If we leave now we can get there before him. Wait him out." I said, half thinking out loud.

"That's why I rang you now ya igit!" Bobby barked, on form as always. "Tell Dean and Sam to give me a ring when you're there."

"Will do, thanks Bobby." I said, feeling actually grateful to him despite how I started the conversation.

"Yeah, yeah. Just don't screw it up!" Bobby growled at me before hanging up. The nice parting shot he always gave us. It was almost a good luck saying now.

I turned to face Dean with a sigh. "Let me guess, we gotta go right now?" Dean said, his voice resigned, his face holding the deep disappointment that I was feeling.

"Yup." I said my face down turned as I climbed off our bed and started to get dressed.

"What this time?" Dean asked me, watching my every move but not getting off the bed himself.

I told him every word of my phone call with Bobby. By the end Dean was getting dressed while I started shoving our clothes into our bags. Sam's too.

"I'll ring the queen of the mood swings." Dean muttered once his stunning body was hidden from my eyes once again.

For the last few weeks Sam's moods had been worse than any females I'd ever met. One minute he was his normal friendly, geeky self, the next it was like he was channelling Charles freaking Manson. When he was in one of his funks Dean and I had taken to warning each other by saying 'here's Jonny!' Neither of us knew what was wrong with him despite our best efforts to find out. He always told us that there was nothing wrong. We both knew it was bull, but other than torture it out of him there was nothing that we could do.

"Dude!... Yeah, we gotta boot... Charlie... New Hampshire... We'll pick ya up... Can't you ever have just gone to a bar? Have that thing called fun? Get a life... Whatever. See you in ten." Dean hung up with a frown at his phone. "Here's Johnny!" Dean warned me, his face tense and stressed, his demeanour almost defeated. Sam's mood swings were taking there tole on Dean, physically and emotionally.

"Where is he?" I asked softly as I zipped up our now packed bags.

"Three guesses." Dean grumbled.

"Library?" I assumed while hoisting my bag onto my shoulder.

"You could be the new Jennifer Love Hewitt. It's uncanny." Dean dead panned.

I just rolled my eyes at him. "Ya ready?"

"I guess." Dean said with another weary sigh before picking up his and Sam's bags. He wasn't exactly a romantic, despite the fact that we'd been... Well whatever we were doing, for three months now. He hadn't lied, there had been no candy, no flowers, no date nights. But he showed a more romantic side to himself in other ways. Like never letting me pick up a tab when we ate together, or always taking the bags rather than let me carry them. He held doors open for me and brought me little treats every now and then. Small tokens like a packet of my favourite chips or a magazine for a long ride. He was sweet in his own way.

Dean and I had a strange relationship, not a conventional one by any means. When we were on a hunt, unless one of us were hurt, it was like we were colleagues and nothing more. But when the hunt was over, or when we were having a little breather, it was like we were inseperable. We rarely held hands, but he had taken mine a couple of times. We hugged, held each, kissed, everything that a normal couple did. We laughed, we joked, we talked for hours on end. Sometimes I thought he was my other half, as though I wasn't complete without him near me. But still we'd never had a talk about us, we'd never defined things and we'd not once said the L word.

We headed out to the car and loaded it up in silence, each lost in our own thoughts as we climbed in to the beautiful black car. I could see why Dean loved it so much, it really was an amazing piece of machinery.

It took us five minutes to get to the tiny town library where Sam had apparently spent his afternoon. I wondered sometimes if Sam said he was going to do research or read and actually hit a bar or two. Though he never came back smelling of alcohol or smoke, it was just the way sometimes he went out in one of his terrible black moods and came back his normal joyful self. Maybe he just really got that much out of reading? And who was I to judge. We were all entitled to our secrets.

Dean honked the horn once as we pulled up outside the small stone building. I climbed into my place in the back seat, knowing the fuss Sam would make while he was in one of his bad moods if he had to sit in the back. Though normally he wouldn't give a damn, and would actually seem happy to see Dean and me so close, happy.

Sam lumbered down the steps a moment or two later. His face creased into a frown, his hands jammed down deep into his jacket pockets. He barely glanced at the car, his head hanging low, his long brown hair flopping into his chocolate brown eyes. His limbs were stiff and held tight. He really was in one of his worse moods. We were in for a fun couple of hours.

"Hey Sam." I said as he climbed into the car. "You have fun?"

"No." Was his short and sharp answer, making me wince inside but hidden by the poker face I wore all the time when we were outside whatever motel room we were calling home for the day.

"What? Slim pickings at the well of nerds?" Dean tried joking, but the rigid set of his shoulders took the fun out of it.

"Not everyone goes out to pick up chicks dude." Sam snapped.

"Yeah they do." Dean replied with a smirk, my insides buried up with repressed jealousy and fury. I knew that Dean was a ladies man, we could hardly go anywhere without some woman trying to pick him up or sliding him there number, and he loved the attention. But he always ripped the number up, and he never responded to the flirting. Well unless he wanted the woman to answer his questions. "And libraries are great places for getting geeky yet hot girls. Banging some hot librarian in the history section!" Deans voice took on real glee for a minute and I couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped me.

"You're confusing porn and real life again D." I smirked at the hunter.

"Yeah, and you've been watching a lot of that lately." Sam muttered his arms crossed in front of his chest. Ouch. That one stung.

"What?" Dean snapped, his own temper flaring now. There wasn't much that could really piss Dean off, but if you insulted the people and things that he loved, that sent him flying off into a rage. Not that he loved me, he didn't, or I didn't think he did, but I was pretty sure that he did care about me. And that was close enough for Dean.

"Just you've been watching a lot. That's all." Sam said, then carried on under his breath. "Cause you sure ain't getting it anywhere else!" Of course in the tiny space that was the Impala, Dean and me heard every syllable.

"Dude, you're my brother, I'd do anything for you. But keep you're damn nose out of my business, that's if you want it to keep that shape ok?" Dean bit out, his eyes and voice hard.

"It is my business when it's happening, or not happening sorry, in my room Dean. Anyway, you want it dropped it's dropped." Sam said back. His voice just as hard.

Deans eyes slid to me in the re-view mirror, assessing how hurt I was from Sam's comments. Still I kept my poker face on though. Pretending that I didn't feel anything the way a good hunter shouldn't feel anything. And I was turning into a damn good hunter. The brothers had told me so themselves.

To say it was a long journey would be an understatement. I'd travelled with the brothers for eight days straight once and that wasn't nearly as long as those three hours seemed to be.

Every mile or two Dean and Sam would make little digs at each other, snide and nasty comments that, apparently, they couldn't keep to themselves. All the while I stayed quiet in the back, seething silently. Where were the days of fun gone? What had happened to the inseparable brothers that I had first met almost five months ago? Cause I sure as hell wanted them back. Sure as hell wanted that Sam back.

Finally we pulled into a fairly cheap hotel on the outskirts of New Hampshire. The kind of place that Charlie had been staying in since he'd left me six months ago. That one was starting to run deep, that cut. Six months and he hadn't tried finding me, tried to make sure that I was ok. Yeah, that hurt a bit.

Sam stormed out of the car and into the hotel. Apparently he wanted to check us in tonight. Dean and I climbed out in a more sedate fashion, both of us silent and worn out. Angry jibes, snide and nasty comments and a tense atmosphere was more exhausting to live in than you would have thought.

Dean carried his bag and mine into the lobby, leaving Sam's bag as a silent 'fuck you brother', that even I caught. Things had to break soon, otherwise it would be out and out war. Then things would really turn ugly.

The lobby was nice and bright but a bit too chintzy for my tastes. The curtains were lace and the wallpaper flowery, the carpets floral and pink. Add some brimstone and horrible torture and you had my own personal hell.

"Hello!" The woman behind the desk chimed in a really friendly voice. Her eyes darting straight to Dean, not even glancing at me. "And how can I help?" She purred in what she obviously thought was a seductive voice. Her eyes travelling across Deans huge muscled body appreciativley. My hand was itching towards my gun slightly as she threw back long blonde hair and batted her eyelids.

"Hi... Daisy." Dean smirked while reading her name tag. "I think my brothers just checked us in? Tall gawky dude with an attitude?"

"Ah... Mr. Handsome?" Really, that was the name on his fake credit card? Wow. That was... Bad. Just bad. "He's just checked in yes. But he only got a single room...?" Daisy trailed off looking a bit confused. Hmmm... Seemed Sam had sent his own silent message.

"Bitch." Dean whispered to me, his shoulders tensing again at the silent but pointed jibe. "Guess we better have our own room then." Dean directed that to Daisy with a heartbreaking smile for her that had my own pulse racing, and it wasn't even directed at me.

"Y..yeah... Sure." Daisy was well and truly stunned by the gorgeous man, not that I blamed her in the slightest, he did it to me on a daily basis and I was almost use to him now. "Is that two queens?" The woman asked, finally glancing at me for the first time, her eyebrows pulling into a hint of a frown.

"What d'ya think sweetheart? Want a bed all to yourself tonight?" Dean asked me with a twinkle in his eyes that had me smiling along with him. "Or are you not fed up with me hogging the covers yet?"

"Tell ya what, get one bed and I'll sleep on you. That way covers won't be a problem, you can keep me warm." I said in a flirty tone that I only ever used when I was trying to piss off the women that regularly tried chatting Dean up with.

"One bed it is then please." Dean told Daisy while wrapping an arm around my shoulders and smiling another grin at her.

Her frown deepened and she became more frosty towards us, but she finally handed over the key to a nice room with one bed right next to Sam's. Oh joy.

A different day, a different home, and a different hunt. I vaguely wondered if this time we'd have trapped Charlie, if we'd have finally tracked him down, as we walked the stairs to our room.

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**so I hope you all enjoyed this chap, next one will be up in a few minutes. Love always tametiger xx**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hope you're all enjoying the new chaps so far. Here's the next one which I really enjoyed writing hope you like reading it as much! **

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Chapter Nineteen

Attack

We'd decided to take it in turns sitting in the Impala, watching out for Charlie. Or Dean and I had anyway, Sam hadn't answered his phone and neither of us was quite brave enough to bang on his door and get him out. I was lucky and got the first shift, the one where it wasn't difficult to stay awake, especially with a hot cup of coffee and a filling donut with me.

It was however very dull work. During the four hours that I was sat in the car by myself, only three people came and went. And only one of those was of any note. A big, scary looking black man that eyed the Impala and smirked. As soon as he rocked up in a classic car and opened his boot I took out my phone. I knew something wasn't right when he started scoping out the parking lot, taking special interest in the car I was hunckered down in.

"What's up B? You missing me already?" Dean chuckled down the line as he answered on the third ring. I could hear the real smile in his voice and it warmed me slightly.

"Like a hole in the head D." I quipped back with my own smile. "There's a dude that just rocked up, something ain't right with him though. I think he's a hunter."

"Looks like we've got a convention in town then." Dean said thoughtfully, before asking me; "what's he look like."

"Tall, mean looking, dark skinned." I said watching him carefully out of the wing mirror next to the drivers door.

"Stick your head out and shout Rufus." Dean said, sounding surprised but happy about it.

"No." I said back with a frown, what was he trying to get me killed?

"What? Why?"

"Cause D, if he is a hunter, and he is here cause of a demon infestation, he's gonna shoot first and ask who I was when I'm six feet under!" I said what should have been obvious to a seasoned professional like Dean.

"Yeah, right. Ok, I'm coming down." Dean said, still with a smile in his voice before hanging up. Dean, while a genius in some areas, could be extremely dense at times. One of the many reasons I loved him. It was just too cute.

I stayed in the car, surveying the car park and yawning a lot; it was boring work. It felt like years later when Dean finally opened the door and climbed in with me, bringing with him warmth and a welcome relief from my boring duty.

"Hey! Was it Rufus?" I asked Dean as he passed me one of two coffees that he had with him.

"Yeah. Bobby thinks we can use all the back up we can get, he's pretty sure this is a major seal we're dealing with, one of the last ones. He's on his way down too, reckons he'll be here by tomorrow afternoon at the latest." Dean informed me before taking a sip of his own steaming coffee. "Charlie got here yet?"

"Not unless he's snuck in disguised, as a woman or Rufus." I smirked before yawning again.

"Go hit the hay sweetheart. I got this." Dean told me softly.

I yawned once more before nodding. "Thanks." I muttered as I went to climb out of the car, my muscles stiff after sitting still for so long.

"Oi!" Dean yelled making me whip my head around. With a smirk he leant in and placed a tender kiss to my lips. "Better. Night B. I'll give ya a ring when it's your shift." Another smirk as I stepped out into the freezing air outside. It looked as though it might snow and it was certainly cold enough for it.

~0~

Nightmares plagued me as I slept alone in the bed that I should have been sharing with Dean. Terrifying dreams of things that I'd done, of things that I'd seen. Corpses of people that I couldn't save were after me and no-one was there to help me.

I woke with a start as I heard the door open, a huge figure but not Sam's stood in the shadow of the doorway. I reached slowly under my pillow pretending that I was still asleep, until my hand was firmly wrapped around my favourite gun. As soon as the cold metal was in my grasp I shot up and pointed my gun at it.

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice stone cold, my heart beating harder but not furiously. I rarely got scared anymore.

"I guess you're Bella?" A deep voice rang out around the room.

"I didn't ask who I was, I've had that one down since I was two!" I snapped making sure my safety was off and a round was chambered. I wasn't taking any chances. I'd gotten my last three scars from giving people the benefit of the doubt, wasn't going to happen again.

"Put that damn gun away girl before you hurt yourself! Name's Rufus, sure that you've heard of me from them fools that your with." The deep voice that might have been Rufus said.

"Nice to meet you Rufus. Now what the hell are you doing breaking into my room?" I asked still not lowering my gun. Like I said, wasn't taking any chances.

"Heard you screaming, thought you were in trouble. But hey! My bad!" Rufus said, which was when that I noticed the double barrel shotgun clutched in his huge dark hand, pointed at the floor and not me. It was Rufus.

"Sorry." I mumbled finally putting my gun down now that it seemed safe to do so.

"Sure, it's fine. You were trained by one of the best, and he was trained by me. Should have expected it." The man growled at me in a way that reminded me so much of Bobby I actually missed the plaid clad man for a minute. "I'll leave ya to it and catch you in a bit." With that the door shut behind Rufus and I laid back down on the bed.

I checked my phone to see what time it was and was shocked to see that I'd been asleep for six hours. That worried me. Why hadn't Dean woke me to trade? Was he ok? Hurt, or just being chivalrous? He occasionally was, but not normally on a hunt, and not when it was to do with my dad.

I jumped out of bed and shoved some clothes on, pulling my shoes on at the same time. Something I'd mastered quickly over the last three months; the amount of times we had to dash in the middle of the night was unbelievable.

I grabbed my gun, phone and silver knife before leaving the room at a run.

I flew down the stairs, my heart pounding and my breath racing, truly scared for once. If something had got the jump on Dean I'd make it pay. I'd march it down into the pits of hell where I'd torture it myself with a smile.

The icy air that promised snow took my breath away, it was that cold as I reached the parking lot. Voices drifted over to me that at first I almost ignored, but the tone...

I stopped dead when I realised who it was.

Charlie, my dad. And Dean.

Why the hell hadn't he called me? My dad! Finally my dad! He was here! He was safe! He was alive! He was fine! And he was here!

"Does she know I'm here?"

"Not yet, but she will in a minute." Deans voice said back, it was cold and hard. The way it only ever was when someone was threatening Sammy or me.

"Dean, don't be a fool! Put that thing away!" My dad's voice bit out, why was he talking like that? "You think I've kept away cause I wanted to, cause I didn't care anymore, cause I didn't miss her every damn day? You think when I found out you had taken my little girl and trained her that I didn't want to get her and drag her ass home? I did it for a reason Dean!"

"I'm listening, but it better be a fucking good reason Charlie!" Wow, Dean was really angry. Like really angry.

Tears burned my eyes as I stared out over the deserted parking lot, listening intently to whatever bullshit reason my dad had for staying away, for leaving me to deal with this crap on my own for the last four months. For leaving me in pieces for Dean and Sam to pick up.

"Bella, she's in danger." Charlie started saying.

"Yeah, we know, she knows Charlie. Eve, Bella's her vessel, they're all after her. We know that. But you Charlie, did you know the day after she rang us that demons attacked her? Then her ex-boyfriend, who happens to be a vampire, tried to rape her! If we hadn't been there... Well thank fuck we were! That's on you Charlie! You left her to deal with it on her own!" Dean was practically screaming the same responses I would have given.

"But I told her to ring John... He was suppose..."

Dean cut over Charlie again, his voice lower now but still cold. "My dads dead Charlie, has been for two years now. But if he wasn't then what? Dad was suppose to take B in? Be her daddy cause you couldn't hack it? Protect her, train her, make sure nothing happened to her? Well guess what dude, that was your job!" Deans voice was rising again as tears streamed down my face.

Something in the distance made me squint. What was that? A mob or something?

My tears dried and faded as I registered what was coming steadily closer. My face automatically snapping into the hunter facade that was so easy to put on now, second nature even.

"Hate to interrupt the party boys, but we got trouble coming." I said my voice hard as I walked round the corner to come face to face with Charlie and Dean.

"Bells?" Charlie said, his mouth dropping open as he looked me over. His eyes watering and softening, his body sagging completely.

"Like I said, trouble, let's have the family reunion special later, yeah?" I said still in a hard voice as I pointed out the group heading directly for the hotel.

"Shit, are they...?" Dean said grabbing my arm and pushing me gently back to the hotel.

"Unless my eyesights finally fading then yeah. That's about twenty vampires. Tell me we got some dead mans blood?" I pleaded, turning my head briefly to make sure that Charlie was following us. He was, his head bowed, his face worried and hurt. I'd take the time to care about that later.

Dean was right, hunting was making me hard. And right now I thought that was probably a good thing.

"Yeah sweetheart, we got dead mans blood and machetes coated with ground up werewolves teeth, but twenty of them? We're gonna need an army too." Dean said running for our room, his voice panting out as he pushed himself. I was right on his heels and Charlie was on mine.

"Bella, you stay here, Dean, Sam and me will sort this." Charlie told me, his voice hard, playing the protective father now. "Lock yourself in the bathroom with one of them machetes and don't come out till one of us tells you it's safe!"

We'd reached the bedroom now. I passed it to knock on Sam's door, or more like hammer on it. "Sammy! We got trouble!" I shouted so he actually answered rather than sat glowering at the door in his funk.

"Bella! Did you hear me!?" My father shouted, his voice hard and worried.

"Loud and clear." I said quietly, waiting for a second before Sam opened the door with a frown. "Twenty vamps heading this way Sam, time to gear up." I rushed out, Sam despite his mood wasted no time. He turned on his heel grabbed his duffle full of weapons and followed Dean and me into our room.

"We know why they're here?" Sam asked, his eyes lighting on Charlie before he frowned harder and looked back at me. "Did I miss something Bells?"

"Just found out myself dude, we'll do all the therapy crap after we survive though." I told Sam as I went to get my own machete and help myself to Deans supply of dead mans blood.

"What the hell is going on here!?" My dad raged from the doorway, taking in my bag and Deans, both at the end of the one bed. "Bella! Stop and talk to me!"

I faced my dad, my eyes flashing and my heart racing with suppressed anger that until now I hadn't realised I'd felt as much as I had. "Sure! What do you want to know dad? I mean we've got all of what? Two minutes before the vampires come to rip us to shreds, but let's get the whole daddy, daughter bonding out of the way before then shall we?" My voice was stone cold, my hand wrapped so tightly around my machete that it hurt.

"You're sharing a room with him?" Charlie bit out, taking the machete that Sam passed to him.

"Yeah and sometimes I share one with both Sam and Dean, but never a bed with Sam, he snores, and he spreads out." I said dipping a couple of knives into some dead mans blood, my hands trembling with anger.

"Right, ok. Bella get in the bathroom, we'll discuss this when this is all over young lady." Charlie said, his eyebrows raised, letting me know he meant business.

"Er... No." I said heading for the door right behind Sam and Dean.

"Isabella Marie Swan!" Charlie shouted out at me.

"Marie?" Dean asked with a chuckle.

"Shut up." I muttered turning red as I did. "Dad you heard Dean, we need an army to take these down, and one less person ain't gonna help those odds none is it?" I didn't stop my stride as I walked down the stairs. "Actually, Dean? Ring Cas, an angel on side isn't going to hurt the odds."

Dean pulled out his phone and dialled the number, not breaking stride as he did.

"Sam, maybe see where Bobby is and if he can get here, like now." I asked Sam who also pulled out his phone and dialled.

I stopped outside of a door for a second before knocking. "Rufus!" I shouted out. "We got vampires, could use your help!"

"Alright keep your pants on, I'm coming!" Came back a gruff shout, I smiled as we started walking again. A team, Charlie the only spare part right now.

"You got an angel on side?" Charlie asked me sounding surprised as Dean hung up.

"Yep!" I said with a smile, I'd only met him last week, seemed ok for a douche bag angel. Deans words not mine. He was nice enough, though a little on the quite sound, and a lot odder than I'd have thought an angel would be. Definatly something other than human.

"And a demon." Came a voice as we reached the outside, the vamps only fifty yards from the building and looking a hell of a lot scarier up close. I didn't like the fact that they weren't rushing, or looking worried as the seven of us faced them all armed to the back teeth. Well except for Cas who'd appeared next to Dean looking calm, collected and weaponless. Helpful.

"Ruby!" Sam's voice was surprised and a little relieaved. Odd. Still we needed all the help that we could get.

"Nice of you to join us Cas." Dean said to his angel over his shoulder.

"I wouldn't have not come. Your lives are on the line. They are here for Bella, they want to take her to Eve, she has risen tonight." Cas told us all in his monotone voice, no emotion at all as he informed us that this army of vampires was here to make me Eve's bitch.

"Nice to be wanted." I muttered making both Sam and Dean smirk at me.

"So, twenty vamps, seven of us. Not great odds. They should have brought more." Rufus said while raising his machete, making the Winchesters and me smirk. Gotta love a man with the same twisted sense of humor as us.

"Hell yeah they should! Then there might have been some left for you guys!" I swear I almost fell over in shock as I turned towards the loud booming voice.

Jasper, Alice and Emmet were stood to the side of us, all of them glaring at the vampires approaching us, looking well... Like vampires.

"Guys!" I squealed with delight. "What are you doing here!" I almost ran to give them a hug I was so happy to see them, my face splitting in to a huge grin at the sight of them, unchanged by five months of seperation.

"Alice had a vision-" Emmet started saying, his face twisting into a grin as the other vampires stopped and faced us.

"So here we are." Jasper cut it short quietly, his eyes hard and caculating as he took in the mass of red eyes before us. A shiver of fear that I shouldn't have felt passed over my skin.

One of the vampires stepped forward, a big man with ruby red eyes and long blonde hair that reminded me of James slightly, the first vampire that had tried to kill me. "Hand over the girl and no-one else has to get hurt." He said in his musical voice that was typical of his kind, and now held nothing for me but anger. Unlike it once had.

"Which one of us? Cause you can have me if you want! I'm always up for a good party!" Ruby trilled out in a flirty voice, batting her eyelashes as she did.

"Yes, you may have the demon, we have no use for her." Cas backed Ruby up in his dead voice.

"Gee thanks." Ruby shot back.

"We want Isabella." The vampire said with a snarl, ok so that cleared that up.

Charlie moved so that he was stood in front of me, Sam and Dean turned to look at him with raised eyebrows and frowns. Oh I got it, Charlie was playing dad now. Little too late.

I stepped to the side, out from behind him, Dean moving closer to Sam so that I had some room. "I'm right here, but Ruby's right, she's really more of the partier. I like the quiet life. Sorry boys." I called out to the vampire with my own smirk.

"Very well!" The vampire shouted his eyes flashing. "We shall take you!" He gave a signal that I couldn't see and the vampires started running towards us.

Predictably Emmet was the first one to run to them, Jasper right on his heels. In a second they were fighting and winning against four of the other vampires who looked weak and untrained next to them. This gave me some hope. We may have a shot.

With a small curt nod to each other Dean, Sam and I ran into the action as well, machetes raised and knives in our other hands.

The first vampire I met was a man who couldn't have been older than Sam when he was changed, his blonde hair flopped into his firey red eyes. His snarl raised the hairs of my arms. But he was either really new to this life or really stupid. All I had to do was feign going left while slicing my machete out with my right and he had no head. It came off cleanly at my feet.

I had no time to gloat over my truipmh. Two more vampires replaced the one that I killed. These two, slightly more clever. Working together as a pair, one going behind while the other approached from the front.

I turned sideways on, watching both at the same time, not letting my guard drop and not willing to make the first move.

Waiting it out was the best option I had and it paid off. The vampire behind me - a red headed dude with curly hair that was in serious need of some products- tried to grab me. I stabbed him with the knife coated in dead mans blood. He froze and slumped, the poision fast acting and effective.

The second vampire had acted at the same time, but I'd swung out my machete and cut his head off. An easy shot that made me feel a little cheap.

I watched with glee as the vampires head fell from his shoulders, making a satisfying thud as it landed heavily on the floor. But I'd made my first mistake, I'd stopped to gloat.

Icy cold hands wrapped around my throat and lifted me high into the air. A cold, high pitched musical note rang through the air. "Stop and put down your weapons or she dies!" The vampire shouted out over the fighters. Their side was losing, down to five vampires while we still had all of our players thankfully.

"Bella!" Came shouts from around me, weapons instantly dropping to the ground from everyone but Sam, Dean and Ruby.

I looked into Deans eyes and gave the slightest nod of my head, hoping it wouldn't go undetected by anyone but the vampires we were fighting against. The fingers digging painfully hard into my skin, fear like bile rising in my throat.

"B! Don't hurt her! Please! Look we've stopped just please don't hurt her!" Deans voice was frantic with worry as he took a step closer to the vampire that had me two feet off the ground by my throat, Sam matching his brother step for step. Wasn't loving the feeling I had to admit.

"Can't... Bre..." I panted out pulling against the stone fingers that held me in place. The vampires fingers relaxed slightly, he didn't actually want to kill me after all, they needed me intact for Eve. Dean, Sam and me, we knew this after many nights sat up talking about it. As the vampires fingers relaxed I pretended to feint. My body sagged and I let all the weight I had go to my feet, pulling me down hard. The vampire was surprised, shocked even as I fell from his grasp on to the hard and very cold floor.

As soon as I was down I heard a swishing noise cut through the air. It connected with something, a soft ripping noise a contrast now, then another satisfying thud rang out.

I sat up and looked at the vampire that had held me hostage before being killed. It was the leader of the pack, the one that had spoken first. His head laying a foot away from me in a pool of blood that wasn't his own but some poor victims, at least their killer had been taken down now. Hopefully that helped them to rest in the peace I was sure the unknown victim had deserved.

I tore my eyes away from the gory sight to see with surprise and delight that Sam had dealt the killing blow to my would be kidnapper.

"Nice shot dude! Thanks!" I said to the huge man as I got up to my feet, my body sore and bruised from the fight.

"I owed you for the Wendingo!" Sam called back with a familar smile on his face, one that hadn't been there for a few days. A smile that both me and his brother had sorely missed.

I grabbed my machete off the floor and walked over to the one remaining vampire who was stood with hunters, good vampires, an angel and a demon surrounding it. "Right so now we're even, next time something tries it you just gonna leave me hanging?" I asked Sam with raised eyebrows and a smirk as I joined the circle.

"Oh yeah, next time your worm food Bells." Sam joked back with a chuckle.

"Nice to know I have such good friends." I smiled again before focusing on the vampire. She was a girl of about fifteen, her eyes were wild and terrified, her body language that of a caged animal. She had long dark hair, pale skin and her eyes were blood red, she'd only just been turned, that much I could tell. "Hi!" I said directly to her in a friendly tone. "I'm Bella, the one you've just been trying to make into your mommy's vessel."

After a minutes silence the girl replied, her voice quivering as she did. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but she told us."

"Are there any more coming?" Jasper asked out, talking over the girl, his tone commanding in a way that I'd never heard before. Made me respect the dude a bit more too, but then I'd always liked Jasper.

"No... We thought... We thought it'd be easy." The girl said, sounding like she would cry if she could.

I nodded to the amsembled group, we didn't need anymore and we couldn't set her lose. Castiel walked up to her and placed a gentle hand to the girls forehead. Her eyes closed peacefully as a blinding white light engulfed her, when the light was gone and I could look again so was the tiny vampire. I didn't feel bad - I couldn't, feeling bad for the things you killed would eventually drive you insane, like Sam and Deans hunter friend Martin.

Our assembled and rag tag bunch stood in silence for a blissful minute before Emmet had to ruin it. "What was that man!?" His face was slack and shocked as he looked at Castiel in awe. "It was like you poofed her away or something? Are you a wizard or a fairy or something?" He asked in his huge voice that seemed to take over the parking lot somehow, making Dean, Sam and I roar with laughter.

"I am not any of those things, I am Castiel, I am an angel of the Lord." Cas replied in his monotone voice, still no emotion in it even as he'd just been insulted by a huge vampire.

"No shit!" Emmet exclaimed his eyes still round, he looked so funny that I was bent over double laughing, my sides hurt and tears of mirth rolled down my cheeks. Dean and Sam weren't doing much better.

"No, no shit. I am an angel. And I must be going. Will you be ok now Dean, Sam, Bella?" Cas asked us.

"What..what ab..about the seal?" Dean managed to choke out in between laughs.

"There was no seal, only the rising of Eve, demons wanted to prevent the inevitable. As you can see they were unsuccesful, as was I. I must return to the gariston, find a way to deal with this new problem." With that Cas was gone, no trace that he'd ever been here, or that vampires had either as their bodies and body parts had vanished with the angel. I did like that dude despite myself.

"So what now then?" I asked the group with a tight smile after we'd been stood in awkward silence in the freezing cold for a few minutes.

* * *

**so... What did you think? Worth the wait? I hope so! I've got the next chap almost finished GDP should be able to post it in the next couple of days. Would love to hear what you thought! Love always tametiger xx**


	20. Chapter 20

**thanks to everyone who reviewed, here's another chap for u all. As always I own nothing! Hope you enjoy it! **

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Chapter Twenty

Splinter

The Cullen's left despite my protests, I'd not seen them in so long and I ached I missed them that badly, but Alice had insisted that they needed to return to Carlisle and Esme, promising me as they climbed back into the yellow Porsche that they'd arrived in, that they would ring me. Calls of thanks rung out through the air as they sped off, Dean, Sam, Charlie and I certainly wouldn't be forgetting their part in helping us out tonight anytime soon.

"Well I don't know about you guys but I think I've earnt myself a large whiskey." Rufus said with a smile while rubbing his hands together.

"Oh yeah, and I'm buying." I said with a smile, wanting to show how grateful I was without saying it. Hunters didn't know how to accept thanks, something I was starting to struggle with now as well.

"You will not Isabella, you're under age. I don't know what you've been doing for the past few months, but it stops now. Starting with the drinking." Charlie barked out, looking angry but also sad and tired.

My anger just flared back up, anger and sadness as well. Could my father not see that I wasn't a little girl anymore? That I didn't need his permission to do anything anymore.

"I've been taking care of myself and looking after myself for months now Charlie, me hunting you down isn't going to stop that. And you're not gonna stop me if I want a drink." I growled out channelling my inner Bobby.

"No, but I can shop you for being underage." Charlie bit back.

"I have ID that says otherwise." I replied.

"You know what, I think I'd actually rather go hit the sack. Long night and all that. Thanks though Bella, see you all in the morning ok?" Rufus spluttered out, his eyes darting from Charlie to me before he basically ran back into the hotel. Great.

"You and me Bella, we need a long talk girl." Charlie snapped at me.

"Yeah we do, you're right. But it can wait. I'm sore, I'm tired, I ache and I'm pissed off, I am going to have a god damn drink." I said before walking off from the lit protection of the parking lot, hoping as I did that the brothers would follow me and not let me deal with this on my own. If they did I'd get wasted at least, killed at most and right now I didn't give a shit which one it was. As long as I was away from him.

"Bella! B! Wait up!" Dean called out behind me as my walk was more of a jog really. I stopped and stood waiting, enjoying the feeling of relief that washed through me.

Dean and Sam started walking next to me, one either side. "How ya doing Bells?" Sam asked me softly, a complete change to the douche bag he'd been earlier.

"Angry, sad, happy. Pick an emotion and run with it dude." I said with tiredness. I was amazingly happy to see my dad alive and well, of course I was. But I was also pissed as hell with him, he'd left me all alone to deal with this crap, he didn't know that I'd have two amazing people like Sam and Dean to help pick me up and dust me down. I was sad that things were like this, although my dad and me weren't the Brady Bunch, we had a pretty good relationship, and now everything had gone down the pan, including the way I viewed him. It's always a sad moment when you see a parent as a real human being, just as fucked up as you, instead of the superhero you imagined them to be.

"It'll all work out B." Dean said to me, uncharacteristically serious for once. "Look sweetheart, I was gonna ring you when Charlie rocked up, I was." Dean started saying in a low voice, Sam looked away and pretended to be deaf which I was grateful for.

I cut over the hunter, my breath coming out in white clouds as I spoke, wrapping itself around the three of us as we walked briskly, hopefully to a bar. "I know I heard. Thank you. For what you said to him, by the way." I muttered as Sam stared at his shoes as though he found them fascinating.

"Yeah." Dean said, apparently going all shy on me. "You know you're gonna have to talk to him right?"

"When I've had a drink and some sleep then yeah. Course. But until then I'm living in a land of denial where every thing's coming up smelling of roses." I smiled at Dean and Sam.

"I'm sure that's very healthy for you Bells." Sam said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.

"Yeah, and finding out that my mother was dead from Bobby, rather than my dad, who didn't even try and find me when he found out... Yeah that was healthy for me too." I said with heat, there were so many issues that I had to work through with my dad that I didn't even know where to start. So I wouldn't, at least not tonight.

"Good point well made." Sam said with a sad look in his eyes just as a bright neon light caught my eye. I sighed out in relief, we'd come across a bar, at last.

~0~

My day just went from bad to worse. Dean, Sam and I had hit the bar and had a nice few hours. We'd played pool, I'd drank, Dean had one beer or two but not more and Sam had stuck to coke, I knew the brothers were holding back their own drinking in case they needed to look after me. Not necessary, but appreciated.

All through the night though Sam had been getting more jittery and snappy, as though he was waiting for something. He kept checking his phone, he even started sweating at one point.

After two hours he excused himself and left the bar. Dean and me shared glances but refused to say anything, denial was running strong throughout tonight. Instead I ordered another whiskey and racked the balls up, I was getting better at pool.

Sam came back into the bar twenty minutes later looking like he was in a worse mood than ever. His face was hard and tense, a frown creasing his forehead and his kind mouth was turned down. His muscles were stiff, and he looked like he was about to lash out at someone.

"Here's Johnny!" I hissed at Dean while keeping my eyes on Sam as he made his way through the quiet bar.

"I've had enough of this, it's getting ridiculous now!" Dean hissed, his eyes also on Sam, his voice pissed. "I mean what is his damn problem?!"

"C'mon D, you know he's not gonna tell us, there's nothing we can do about it but ride thwe wave." I giggled as I slurred my words a bit.

"Well your about as useful as a cat in water right now aren't you sweetheart?" Dean said, his voice half annoyed and half amused, a chuckle escaped him as I scruntched up my face trying to work out where the insult was in his sentence, I knew there was one but I didn't quite get it. Was he calling me a cat? That's when I decided that maybe switching to water for a couple of drinks wouldn't be a bad move.

"Here." Sam said sitting down at the table while slamming a beer and a tequila down in front of me, a beer remaining in his clutch that he rapidly began draining.

Although I knew it was a really, really bad idea I downed the shot in one, making a slight face as it burnt its way down my oesophagus and lit up my insides. I felt the heat of Deans disappointed stare and shied away from it as I sipped my beer at a more languid pace. I heard him heave a sigh and put down the beer, ashamed of myself slightly that I was causing this wonderful man more worry, more upset, especially when his brother was being a prize douche bag.

"So what you gonna say to Charlie then Bells?" Sam asked me innocently enough, his voice though had a nasty infliction to it, almost as though he was trying to upset me or infuriate me.

"Depends how I'm feeling." I replied picking my beer back up.

"You know he's going to bust your balls about him." Sam jerked his head towards Dean, a frown creased my forehead at the gesture. What was wrong with him? And why was he being so impersonal to his best friend in the entire world, the other half of himself, because these two brothers couldn't live without each other that much I knew. And Sam was treating the man who'd done nothing but care for him like a piece of shit that he'd accidentally trodden in.

"Well _Charlie_ will just have to deal with it." My voice was hard now as I crossed my arms and frowned at Sam.

"What are you gonna say to him about your mom dying then Bells?" Sam smirked at me. "I mean it was a crappy way to go and he didn't even find you to tell you."

Ok, enough was enough, that was below the belt. If Sam wanted an argument I'd give him one!

"What the hell is your problem Sam!" Dean hissed out beating me to the punch. His eyes blazed with fury and his tone was sharp.

"Just asking Bells a question Dean, that's all." Sam snapped back.

"You're acting like a dick, you have been for weeks. What is it? What's wrong?" Dean's voice was still hard, still angry.

"Nothing!" Sam snapped back picking up his beer and downing it. "I'm going home!" He then declared before standing up and storming from the bar.

"Oh no, not this time!" Dean muttered as he stood up as well. He then glanced down at me, "you be ok getting home B?" He asked me slightly softer, his eyes more gentle as he looked over me.

"Yeah. Go on." I said while jerking my head towards the door.

~0~

I waited an hour before I left the bar. More than enough time for me to sober up and let the brothers bash it out without me getting in the way.

The air had dropped even colder as I walked slowly back to the hotel, making sure that I was keeping an eye on the dark streets around me. The vampire had told us that they were the only ones, but still I didn't think it was a good idea to let my guard drop, after all Eve had escaped her prison tonight and I was first on her list.

I was pretty sure as I walked through white clouds of my own breath that it would snow within the hour, changing the landscape completely and making it even harder for me to walk down the street without tripping over. Pretty though.

I was instantly on guard as the hotel came into view and I saw a shadow stood outside the entrance waiting for something. My hand instinctively went for my gun that was in the waistband of my jeans.

I relaxed though as I saw it was just the outline of Dean, he was stood outside waiting for me. But by the set of his shoulders it wasn't to tell me everything was fine now and that we were all about to have the happily ever after that we all sorely wanted.

I quickened my pace over the parking lot, slightly worried now.

"Hey D! What's wrong? Everyone ok?" I asked Dean as I approached him.

"Yeah, everyone's fine Bella." Since when did Dean ever call me Bella? And why was his voice so pained if everyone was ok?

"What's wrong?" I repeated myself in a softer voice taking a step closer to his worried and upset features, his green eyes not meeting my face.

"We're going Bella."

"Ok, I'll grab my stuff. But can't I have a day or two to speak with Charlie? Or has Bobby found something for us?" I asked, not moving from my spot as I did. Something was really wrong, I could feel it in my gut. And those words that he'd spoken... They seemed familiar somehow.

"Sam and me, we're going Bella." Dean said confusing me even more.

"Dean, stop speaking in riddles, what you on about?" I asked while wrapping my hands around myself to keep myself warm.

"I'm on about me and Sam, we are leaving. You got your dad back B, job done." Dean's words left me cold, an icy wind had gripped the inside of my chest in an iron vice.

"Hang on, so we find Charlie and you just leave me with him? What about all that stuff you said about you wouldn't just dump me with him? What about me not just being a job to you guys?!" My voice was rising as was my panic. "What about us Dean?" My voice dropped again as I spoke the last bit.

"What us? I told you Bella, I told you. I don't date. I'm sorry that you thought something else but... Look our job's done, we're out of here. Go sort things out with Charlie then go home Bella. You don't belong in this world." Every word that Dean spoke tore into my damaged and bruised heart, ripping it to shreds. My chest pyshically hurt and my hand went to it, as though to try and stem the pain somehow.

"Dean, no, please. Dean I lov..." I started choking out.

"Don't! Just don't Bella." Dean said, pain and hurt in his own eyes before he snapped his mask back in place. "Look after yourself ok?" Were his last words to me before he walked away towards the Impala.

As he climbed in and started the car with a roar, the first snowflakes descended in time with my tears.

~0~

I went back up to the room that had been rented when the cold finally penetrated my numb body. I was on autopilot, my body moving without my brains input. I wasn't thinking, my mind was blank, all the was in it was a dull buzzing noise.

I grabbed my bag with one hand while checking the room for anything I'd left behind, doing my damn best not to look at the double bed that I'd needed less than an hour ago.

Having got everything I left the room and threw my bag over my shoulder.

I stopped outside the hotel again, a thick hoodie now protected me from the worst of the winds bite, though not all of it. I had two choices. I either went in search of Charlie and did as Dean had asked, went home with him and live a normal life. Or I carried on hunting, by myself this time though.

Whatever I did, I needed to talk to Charlie before I did it. I owed him and myself that much first. Though what he could possibly say to make any of this any better was beyond me.

With a sigh I walked back into the hotel, passing a smirking Daisy as I did, I resisted the urge to smack her in the face and carried on back upstairs, dragging the shattered pieces of myself behind me.

I knocked on Charlie's door firmly with the hand that wasn't clutched around my bag. Trying desperately to arrange my face into my poker mask once more. It was hard though, so hard when all I wanted to do was curl up and sob. To run after Dean and beg him to take me back.

Charlie answered the door looking like I'd woken him up, his hair was dishevelled, his clothes ruffled and his dark brown eyes, so similar to mine, were thick with sleep. Tough.

"Bella?" My dad mumbled looking slightly confused by the sight of me outside of his door in the middle of the night.

I didn't wait for him to wake up, I just edged my way around him into his room.

"You wanted to talk? Let's talk." I said in a monotone voice while leaning against a beige wall and not taking my eyes of the man. Strange how he looked like my dad, acted like my dad, smelt like my dad but didn't feel like my dad anymore, strange and sad.

"Where are Sam and Dean?" Charlie asked me, his eyes hardening and narrowing. Something was off, even when my dad was pissed beyond belief at me, he would have made sure that I was ok first. That the reason that I'd come to him wasn't because I was hurt or upset. Odd. But then maybe he'd come to the realisation that if I was hurt, upset or in danger I didn't need him anymore, I had done, but not recently, I'd found a way to cope without him.

"They've gone." I told my father, my voice coming out dead and hollow. My chest constricting painfully as I said the words out loud. Tears started to fill my eyes that I quickly banished, pulling out my poker face and putting it back firmly in place. I couldn't afford to be weak ever again.

"Really? I didn't think that dick Dean would ever leave you. Glad to be wrong for once." Charlie said, smiling as he did. How could he be so cruel?

"Right, so. You said we needed to talk. Talk." I crossed my arms over my chest, trying so hard to hold myself together.

"Oh dear Bella, you've become so hard haven't you? What have those boys done to you?" Charlie's voice wasn't full of outrage or anger, but a smile, happiness even. Ok, this was starting to worry me now. This wasn't my dad. Even if he was being a big douche bag, these weren't his actions, weren't his words, I knew my dad better than most and this just wasn't him. Subtly I let my hands drop, trying to inch my way to my gun without drawing attention to myself.

"They haven't done anything dad." I said my voice controlled so that it was calm yet hard, making sure the infliction was no different from normal even though I was suddenly petrified. I had no-one now, no back-up, no help and no idea what I was dealing with. If things went wrong now, then there would be no Sam and no Dean to fix it for me. I truly was on my own, and the thought sent cold chills of terror racing through my body.

"Oh you learnt the whole, I'm a mean, bad-ass hunter look all by yourself did you Bells?" Charlie taunted me, I was centimetres away from my gun now, I had to keep him talking.

"I learnt it when I saw the bloodstains that mom had left." I told the thing, letting an edge of hurt creep into my voice and trying to act as naturally as I would if this had been my father.

"Saw that did ya?" Again no sense of outrage or hurt coming from the man, did he not know he was giving himself away, or did he just not care anymore?

My hand reached the gun which was loaded with silver bullets and I almost sobbed with relief. At least I could count on the skills the Winchesters had taught me even if I couldn't count on them anymore.

"Yes, I did." I said in a monotone voice. My hand firmly wrapped around my gun, the safety off, a chamber already loaded from last time I'd used it and my finger resting lightly on the trigger. All I needed was a slight distraction to pull it out unseen.

I cast my eyes around the room for the first time. Whatever the thing that was impersonating my father was had already made itself at home, pictures from hunts lined the walls as well of pictures of me and the brothers, taken together were spread over a huge map on the wall. Where had it got those pictures from? We'd never posed for one, ever, what was the point?

"Why are they on the wall?" I asked with real confusion, pointing to the pictures with my free hand and making the thing turn around briefly.

Catching my chance I yanked my gun free and pointed it at the creature. My eyes hard, my stance ready for battle, my hands un-wavering as I pointed it at my dad.

"Bells?" The thing asked looking hurt and upset as it turned to face me. A good show but too late now. I knew.

Without a seconds hesitation I lowered my gun and shot the thing in the kneecap. He howled with pain and dropped to the ground. His skin bubbling and burning where the bullet had hit.

"What are you and where is my dad!?" I asked stepping towards the thing and pointing my gun at it's head. My voice was harder than I'd ever managed to make it yet.

The thing started laughing in between gasps of pain, the noise eerie and worrying coming from my fathers mouth.

"Does it matter what I am?" He hissed out in between laughs.

"No, not really, I'm going to kill you anyway." I said lightly, while chambering another bullet into my .22. "But I'll do it a hell of a lot quicker if you tell me where my dad is."

"Go to hell." The thing bit out at me, his hands still clasping his knee.

"Probably." I said while pulling out a silver knife from my pocket, I was nothing if not well prepared. I'd be dead now if I wasn't. "Now I have no problem skinning you alive, but I'd really rather not get blood all over me, so if you'd just tell me where Charlie is, this will all be over and I can go on my merry way. What have you done with him?" I asked again.

"Nothing! We haven't done anything, we don't know where he is, he dropped off the map yesterday!" The thing told me, it's eyes wearily eyeing the knife that I held close to it's face.

"Really?" I asked while cutting a line into his cheek which made him roar with pain, a roar that would forever be embedded in my soul but which I ignored for the minute.

"Yes! I'm telling you the truth!" The shifter told me, I'd worked it out, a shapeshifter, maybe even the same one that had killed my mother.

With hard eyes and an even harder stomach I pulled the trigger of my gun, killing the shifter instantly as my bullet shot between its eyes.

I took one long look at the shifter before putting my gun back in its place and walking from the room. As I passed the wall I took a picture, one keepsake of Dean, Sam and me together. I don't know why I did it, I'd never look at it again, the pain would be too much, but I couldn't leave it, something deep in me wouldn't let me.

I stuffed the picture in my bag and left with no thought to where I was going or how I was gonna get there. All I knew was that I had to find Charlie. And this time I was looking on my own and with a shattered heart.

~0~

It was thirty hours later that I pulled over in the car that I'd... Borrowed. Yeah borrowed, from the hotel car park. It was a dark blue Ford that couldn't go over sixty and stuck in neutral a lot, but a car was a car and it would do till I could find an upgrade. I pulled the blue monster over beside one of those internet cafe things, one where you can pay five bucks and surf the internet for like an hour.

For the last thirty hours I'd just been driving and trying to come up with a plan of action.

The facts were; I was on my own, I had no idea what I was looking for or how to find it, I was in bits, my heart broken and my spirit smashed once more. I had money, that wasn't a problem, and I had fake credit cards, not to mention Id's.

It took me thirty hours but I'd come up with a plan. I was gonna hunt on my own, that was a given, and I was gonna look for Charlie as well. And my first stop was in this dirty little internet cafe where all the customers were overweight middle aged dudes. But I'd figured out that I could put out a search on my dad's alias', his police badge and his last known car details. And with my fancy phone I could then have all the information sent to it when it arrived. While I was here I could also look for a close hunt.

I'd not been able to find a hunt, not anyway within a three day drive anyway so I decided to carry on driving until I was tired. I didn't want to sleep till I had no other choice; everytime I closed my eyes all I could see were images of Dean. All I could hear were his parting words. Words that had already been spoken to me before.

Every day I drove my phone beeped at me telling me I had a new voicemail message. I'd been ignoring my calls, very few people had this number after all.

Six days passed before I decided I needed a rest. Six days of grabbing a bottle of water, a cereal bar and twenty minutes of sleep before I moved on again.

The only problem was that on day six I was kind of off the beaten track. All that I was passing was scrubby grass lands, the kind that made you think of the 'Wrong Turn'. But my eyes were heavy and my mind a fuzzy mess, I had to find somewhere. Anywhere where I could just rest.

I made a deal with myself, if I couldn't find somewhere within the next half an hour I'd park up and sleep in my 'borrowed' car, risking getting eaten by the locals for a couple of hours kip.

Luckily I didn't have to take the risk, on my left was a ramshackle looking building that looked like a cross between a bar and an inn. I hoped to god they had rooms going, otherwise it was going to be a night in the parking lot.

I pulled into the empty lot and looked round without much hope, the building looked like it had been re-built recently from scorched wood and with not much skill.

I hoped the inside was more favourable than the outside, but not holding out much hope.

I climbed out into the dusty parking lot while grabbing my bag and looked at the sign above the door. The Roadhouse.

Maybe my luck would change here? Either way, I thought to myself as I trudged for the door, it couldn't get much worse.

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I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! But I'm going somewhere with this! Love always Tametiger xx


	21. Chapter 21

**Hi guys, so here's the next chapter. I've re-written bits of supernatural history here, sorry about that, but I couldn't let one of my all time favourite characters be dead. And the Roadhouse, I love the idea of it... So you're all gonna** **have to use your imagination here peoples :) hope you enjoy it! :)**

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Chapter Twenty-One

The Roadhouse

I entered the bar to find it deserted, not one customer or member of staff to be seen amongst the scattered wooden furniture. Surprisingly the place was clean and didn't smell too bad to boot. Behind the bar were fridges that held an assortment of cold drinks that made my mouth water with thirst.

"Hello?!" I called out as I made my way further into the cavernous room, my voice bouncing back at me off the wooden walls.

"Well hi!" Came a bright voice making me spin around and face the bar again, though not jumping for once thankfully.

"Hi." I said in almost blatant relief at the pretty woman behind the bar. She must have been mid forties with blondish brown hair and a nice smile which set off a twinkle in her light brown eyes. The woman both made me relax completely and have my guard up at the same time, there was just something about her. And it didn't help that my mind was completely foggy from lack of sleep.

"What can I do for ya honey?" The woman asked, her eyes holding more than a twinkle as I approached the bar. They were assessing me as I approached, and they also had that familiar feel, of somebody who's seen too much in her life. I knew the look but couldn't place it.

"I was hoping you had some rooms going?" I asked with a wan smile, my eyelids dropping as though to show just how tired I was.

"Sorry hon, we don't do rooms, just drinks and food." The woman replied with a small, almost disappointed smile.

"Oh, ok. I'll take a orange and a pack of those chips then." I pointed at a pack behind the bar, which I was given quickly and with another smile. After I had paid and taken a sip of my orange I perched myself on a bar stool. "Hey look, do you mind if I crash in your parking lot. I promise to buy something else after I've had a couple hours?" I asked the nice bar lady in my best innocent voice.

"Where you coming from?" The woman asked me without answering my question, her voice not changing much, but I could hear the suspicion in it from a mile off.

"Er..." I struggled to remember which town I'd stopped in last. "New Hampshire." I answered, the last place I could actually remember, even though the memory was laced with pain.

"What were you doing there?" What was the twenty questions? I was starting to feel a little uneasy.

I thought hard for a second of something that I'd done there which would be an acceptable answer. "I met up with friends." True, the Cullen's were my friends and I'd met with them briefly for the battle against the other vampires.

"What's your name honey?" The woman asked me, leaning closer to me and looking me up and down unashamedly.

"Why?" I asked as I hurried down my chips, I was really getting uneasy now and was thanking my stars I had my gun on me.

"You're a bit young to be travelling that far on your own aren't ya sugar? Someone must be worried about ya." Something was off with her answer.

"Nope. No-one's worried about me." I answered bluntly. No-one even cared where I was, let alone was worrying about me.

The woman assessed me once more before leaning over the bar and offering a worn and calloused hand. "Names Ellen Harvelle." She was obviously trying to win my trust, which worried me even more.

"Bella Swan." I said taking her hand and shaking it, watching her carefully for any reaction to my name. All the evil crap I faced seemed to know me, if this woman gave a start I'd be ready with my gun and I'd bolt.

"Bella? You wouldn't happen to know a Bobby Singer would you?" Ellen asked me, her eyes widening the smallest amount. My hand instantly retracted from hers and went for the gun concealed at the small of my back. "Whoa! Hold your horses girl, I ain't what you think I am." The woman said stepping back and holding her hands in the air, her eyes hardening in a second.

"And what would I think you are?" I asked, my voice stone cold.

"I don't know, shifter, ghoul, reverent, demon, take your pick honey." My mouth dropped open at her words, who was this and what the hell had I got myself into? "Don't worry, this place, it's safe. Or as safe as a bar that hunters patronise ever is anyway." Ellen grinned at me. Still my hand didn't let go of my gun as I assessed her words for honesty and truthfulness. It rang clean, but I was still sceptical, seemed a hell of a coincidence to me. "If you don't believe me, give Bobby a ring."

My hand dropped and my body sagged. She was telling the truth, there was no harm meant here.

"Sorry I gave ya a fright honey." The woman said, putting another orange in front of me as I drained my last bit of my first juice. "On the house." She declared to me with a motherly smile that twisted up my gut. My mom's death still weighed heavily on me.

"Thanks." I muttered while looking down at my juice. I didn't want to look up at this woman and see a substitute mother, I didn't, but her attitude and caring was making me yearn for it.

Ellen sighed a deep, almost pained sigh which made me look up at her. She was smiling that maternal smile down at me again. "I'm probably gonna regret this but... I got a couple rooms out back, you can crash for the night if you want."

"Really? Thanks, that's really nice of ya." I said, my voice coming out as sceptical as I was feeling. People didn't just help others out because they could, there was always a price attached.

Instead of getting pissy with me Ellen chuckled. "Don't worry I don't want anything for it." After that sentence her voice dropped, as did her eyes and mouth, she looked almost as sad as I felt. "You look like you could use a bit of good luck. And any friend of Bobby's... Well normally gets me and mine in a boat load of shit but I'll risk it. That all your stuff?" Ellen asked me while nodding to my pink bag.

"Yeah, that's all." I replied, everything else I'd owned - which consisted of three guns, a sword and a dagger - was still in the trunk of the Impala, I didn't think I'd be seeing it again.

"Grab it then and follow me." Ellen said turning her back to me and allowing me a glimpse of her own stashed gun. She'd meant for me to see it, a subtle 'I might be being kind but don't take me for a ride'. Nice, but oddly enough made me trust her all the more.

I followed Ellen behind the bar and then up some dark stairs that led directly off the bar, my legs feeling heavier with every step, my yawns coming fast and thick.

We arrived at the top of a well lit landing decorated in a plain and neutral beige, the carpets matched, the smell of new paint still lingered tickling my nose. Coming off the clean and homely landing were seven doors, the upstairs was obviously quite big, all the doors were closed, denying me the opportunity of scoping out my surroundings.

"This one here." Ellen announced stopping outside of the second door on the left.

"Thanks Ellen. Do you want some.. Er... Some money?" I asked awkwardly, I didn't have a problem paying, but the way she'd treat me so far was more like an old friend than a paying lodger and I didn't want to offend the odd, but very kind woman.

"Hush yourself!" Ellen barked at me, sounding like the female version of Bobby which made me smile sleepily. "You get some shut eye." Was all she said before she left the hallway to go back down to the empty bar.

~0~

It took me a few minutes to work out where I was when I opened my eyes. The walls were a cream colour, the floor a nice tan carpeted number, the furniture clean and modern. And the bed... God the bed... It was the comfiest thing I'd slept on in months. No springs stuck in my back, nothing dipped in the wrong places, it wasn't too hard or too soft. In the words of goldy locks 'it was just right'. I felt more well rested than I'd been for a little while. Despite that I'd only slept for five hours. The longest I'd gone for days.

Remembering where I was I got up and changed into some fresh clothes, taking full advantage of the en-suite bathroom facilities so that I wasn't stinking of road any more.

Feeling clean and well rested, but with a pain in my chest that wouldn't go away no matter how long I slept for I quietly made my way back down the stairs to the bar.

The bar was a lot more lively now, fifteen or so people were sat around the room, all of whom had that look on their faces. The same one I'd seen in Sam and Dean, the look that was my own in the mirror now. The look of a hunter. I was slightly ashamed that I didn't notice it in Ellen's eyes this morning, but I blamed my sleep deprivation.

"You look like you could use another few hours." Came a voice from next to my ear which made me jump a little. I turned my head to see Ellen leaning against the wall nearest the doorway to her private accommodation and assessing me shrewdly.

"That's the longest I've slept for two weeks I think. That beds amazing by the way." I smiled widely at the woman to convey my thanks.

"Yeah, gotta have something half decent to come home to, make up for those motel beds. Always give me a crick in the neck." Ellen smiled back at me. "Take a seat, I'll bring ya some food." Her head nodded towards the bar stool I'd propped myself up on earlier.

"Thanks Ellen, I really appreciate it..." I started saying, but I was going to say no, I had to get back on the road, keep going, find a hunt to take my mind off things. Off of him and the fresh wound in my chest, the one which my heart had been ripped through. See all Ruby would have had to do was wait for Dean to do it for her. Bet she wished she'd have known that.

"No thanks necessary, just park your butt." Her voice was firm, no point arguing with her, she was going to win. It was a done deal.

I walked from round the bar, head held high and eyes forward despite everyone in the bar watching me suspiciously. Hunting was all about confidence and since I'd started hunting I had an abundance of confidence, something I'd never had before. But I'd learnt the secret from Sam. Pretend you are confident, act like you are and it'll come naturally, he was right, it had.

I'd been sat at the bar for five minutes before Ellen returned with a huge sandwich I didn't think that I'd ever be able to eat.

"Get that down ya, you need some meat on your bones." Ellen declared as she put it down in front of me with another fond smile. She then pulled out a beer and slammed it down in front of me with another smile.

"Thanks." I smiled back before tucking into the sandwich.

"So what's your plans now then?" Ellen asked me kindly.

"I don't know." I said with a shrug after I'd swallowed a mouthful of my delicious meal. "I guess I just go on hunting and look for my dad." I wasn't thinking about what was coming out of my mouth, I felt too relaxed talking to Ellen. A rookie mistake.

"Your dad?" Ellen asked looking thoughtful for a second. "Charlie? Charlie's missing?" Her hand went to her chest and she looked dazed, I had no idea that my father was so well acquainted with this woman. Awkward.

"He's hunting, but I haven't heard from him in six months, I'm trying to track him down, make sure he's ok. Don't suppose you've heard from him at all?" I asked half hopefully.

"I haven't heard from Charlie in... About eight, nine months. Sorry honey. But I'm sure he's fine. Your daddy, he's one of the best." Ellen reassured me, but the worry in her eyes told a different story.

I tucked back into my sandwich, hungrier than I realised as I ate with a gusto. The beer going down much too easily as well.

"Hang on. I've got an idea." Ellen said, looking happier with herself now. "Ash! Ash!" She shouted down the side of the bar. "If anyone can find Charlie Ash can." She explained proudly to me.

"You called?" A man asked walking around the side of the bar with forced nonchalance, either that or he was really stoned.

Ash was not what I was expecting. At all. He was a weed of a guy with a mullet, a real life mullet. His voice was a slow drawl, he looked liked a stoner geek rather than someone who could actually find my dad.

I'd spent too long with two brothers, much too long. I spoke my mind without checking my tongue first, something that in their company was celebrated rather than frowned upon.

"He can find my dad? No offence Ellen, but if Bobby's hitting a brick wall then no way is that Lynard Skynard roadie over there gonna be able to help me. No offence dude." I addressed the last bit at the man himself.

The man, Ash, smiled widely at me, his eyes heavily hooded which added to my whole stoned theory. "No offence taken hot stuff." Really? Hot stuff? Oh no. "You know a guy called Dean by any chance?" Ash then asked me with a smile, his name sending a wave of pain through me like no other. Instinctively I wrapped my arms around myself, my knees curling further into my chest, a defensive mechanism. Ash and Ellen saw all of this through sharp, studying eyes. "You know what, never mind. What did ya need?" Ash asked Ellen and me.

"Ya know Charlie Swan?" Ellen asked Ash, her eyes darting quickly towards him before looking back at me with worry. I knew I needed to pull myself together, but I couldn't, it hurt too damn much. He'd just gone, he'd not even told me why, not really, he'd just told me that I was a job and that was it. And Sam didn't even say goodbye. All together it stung, it worse than stung it was a blunt rusty blade carving my heart out day by day, second by second. The pain was getting worse not better as the numbness left me and in it's place pain wracked hold of my heart.

"Yeah, decent guy. Brough me a brewskie once." Ash's words brought me out of my own personal hell and back to the present which was no less painless.

"He's gone AWOL." Ellen told Ash bluntly, trying to hold back her own pain from her words and not succeeding. What had gone on there? I wasn't sure I wanted to know to be honest.

"Missing person hey? And you called me for that. Pfft! That's almost insulting." Ash drawled.

"I'll buy you ten brewskies." I offered with a hesitant smile. I had no faith in this guys abilities but I didn't want to pass up any chance I had to get my real dad back. Not now.

"You have a deal little lady." Ash told me while looking over his shoulder as though he was conducting a risky business transaction in a shady bar. "What have you got so far?" He asked me quietly while taking the beer that Ellen passed him.

"Nothing. I wouldn't be asking for help if I had three solid leads to go on would I? I thought you were suppose to be smart?" I said but smirked at him as I did to take the sting away.

"Touché. Fine. Give me a couple of days to get a lead." Ash told me before raising his beer bottle at me, flicking the back of his mullet of his shoulder and walking back off the way he came from.

I turned back to face Ellen, my own face slack with surprise.

"He's a genius." Ellen told me simply with a shrug. I raised my eyebrows at her in response. "Early admittance to MIT, he'll find your dad, pin point location."

MIT, ok that was a bit of a commendation, and raised my hopes slightly. Maybe this weird looking but seemingly nice guy would be able to do what Bobby and his legions of hunters had been unable to do? I guess I just had to have a little bit of patience and a lot of faith.

"You're welcome to crash here until Ash's got something if ya want Bella?" Ellen asked me briskly.

I thought it through for all of a second; I had no where else to go, no-one else to turn to, no lead on a hunt, and I felt the urge to sit and lick my wounds for a little while. "I'll take you up on that, thanks Ellen." I smiled my appreciation at the older woman.

The night passed fairly quickly, I sat at the bar for most of it. Drinking way too much, which did nothing to help the feeling of utter loss and hurt in the pit of my stomach. But Ellen was a bit of a balm, she kept me talking, and smiling if not laughing.

It was getting to be kicking out time and some of the hunters had got a bit rowdy, not that it bothered me, but Ellen was keeping a stern eye on them.

Two of the men, both older, both scarred and beaten looking started arguing next to the juke box. A row over the best way to kill a shifter.

Ellen who hadn't taken her eyes off the scene in a while called out in a loud voice. "Hey! Take it outside!" Neither of the men listened though, and despite every eye in the place being trained on the two arguing men no-one intervened.

The first punch was thrown and Ellen shouted louder. "Hey! Outside now!" Her voice was strong and commanding, but lost in the din of the two men now out and out fighting.

I got up out of my seat and went over, more than wanting a decent fight. The alcohol and hurt pumping through my veins, creating a formidable anger.

I stormed over to the two men and pushed them away from each other, a surprisingly large amount of strength needed for the task. "Hey! The lady said to take it outside! So shove off!" I called, my voice hard and angry.

Unfortunately for them the men ignored me just as they had done Ellen. They dived round me to get to each other, my reflexes now though we're second only to Peter Parker's. I stuck out my foot for one of the men who tripped over it and he went crashing to the floor. The second man, who was still moving with a raised fist I sent a back handed fist in the face too. He went down with a pain ridden groan, his nose gushing with blood. I think I'd broken it.

"I told you to take it outside!" I said in a loud voice as both men looked up at me from the floor.

The man I'd tripped over stood up and advanced on me. "You shouldn't have done that little girl, you're dealing with men now." I rolled my eyes at the pathetic threat and stood with my arms crossed, waiting for him to make a move.

Suddenly the man stopped, his eyes darting from me to something over my shoulder. With a huff he turned and walked from the bar. I turned my head briefly to see both Ellen and Ash stood behind me with guns out at the ready and hard smiles on their faces.

The other patrons of the bar quickly left after that, no-one saying a word and no-one giving us so much as a backward glance.

"Well that was stupid." Ellen growled out at me as soon as the door had shut on the last hunter. "Starting a fight in a bar full of hunters, what you got, a death wish or something?" Wow, thanks was pretty hard to come by these days right?

"No, just needed to blow off some steam and those guys just didn't wanna listen to you. So I made 'um." I said back, my arms still folded my eyes hard. The anger coursing through me hadn't faded during my none fight.

"So what is it then? A guy?" Ellen asked me as she and Ash made their way back to the bar.

"What do you mean?" I replied with a sigh.

"Well somethings got you good and fired up. In my experience it's either one of two things, a guy or a guy." Ellen said while sticking three beers on the bar.

"There is no guy." I bit out, my voice hard, warning her not to follow this line of questioning.

"But there was right? Come on share." Ellen coaxed. "Right let me guess, your prince turned into a frog when you kissed him?" She smirked at me after I'd sat in silence for a few minutes.

"No, the prince was a prince when I kissed him. Only problem is prince's fall in love with princesses, not twenty year old hunters." I sighed while taking a long drink of my beer.

"I'm gonna pretend you said twenty-one there." Ellen said with raised eyebrows before she carried on. "Men, sugar, they have two emotions, horny and hungry. A species so simple is always gonna break your heart. Always. You just gotta make the decision not to let it break your spirit too. It's not easy but you gotta just keep on. And one day you'll wake to find your heart ain't broke no more, just bruised." Ellen told me while laying a kind hand on top of mine.

"So what Dean do then?" Ash asked while me and Ellen were having our warming heart to heart.

"Ash for a genius you're an idiot." Ellen smiled at the strange guy, her eyes rolling as she did and taking her hand away again.

Ellen placed a couple of shots in front of me after I said nothing for a while. His name still inflicting deep pain throughout my body.

Three hours later, and sobbing, my mind mushy from alcohol, the room spinning, I told Ash and Ellen everything. My words coming out slurred and almost drowned out by my sobs.

~0~

I woke up with a splitting headache, every small movement made the pain worse and made my stomach heave like I had a bad case of sea sickness. My memory from last night was a big black hole full of pain and alcohol. I could remember nothing after telling Ash and Ellen about Dean, I hoped I'd just passed out then. The amount of alcohol I'd consumed made that theory highly likely.

It took me half an hour to make my way downstairs, dressed and not smelling like puke.

"Well you look like shit." Ash told me as I made my way round the bar, retching as I passed the alcohol, actual bile biting my throat as I saw Ash drinking his beer.

"Thanks." I mumbled passing him and sitting on 'my' bar stool. "How are you still drinking?" I moaned at the man, every syllable making my head pound harder.

"Hair of the dog! Makes the morning feel just fine! You should try it hot stuff." Ash said to me with a smile.

"No! I'm never drinking again!" I mumbled with my face in my arms. Was the light extra bright today?

"I've heard that one before, funny how people forget the next day!" Ellen said, her voice sounding like she was smiling. "Here get that down ya, it'll make ya feel better trust me." I heard a plate crash down in front of me and peaked out from my defensive fortress of arms. A big cooked breakfast was piled on the plate, and despite the rolling of my stomach it smelt delicious.

"Thanks." I murmured before sitting up and pulling the plate towards me. It tasted just as good as it smelt, and Ellen was right, it did make me feel better.

"How ya feeling now sugar?" Ellen asked me when I'd devoured the plate in about sixty seconds flat.

"Better thanks." I smiled, my head now down to a dull thud thankfully.

"I'm not surprised you were feeling rough, you can drink girl." Ellen told me with a smile. Oh dear.

"And you can dance too hot stuff!" Ash added with a wink that made me chuckle despite wanting to groan.

We sat talking for a while, not about anything important or life changing. Just music, bad times when drinking and embarrassing moments. Nothing heavy, just things that were light and had all three of us smiling.

The moment was ruined though by the ringing of the phone which cut through my tender head like a chainsaw cuts through a tree; painfully.

Ellen got up and answered the old looking phone. "Yeah...? Depends on what you want..." Ellen said with a hard voice into the phone while shooting me a worried look. I didn't think that I wanted to know who was on the other end of the conversation or what they wanted. "Yeah, she's here... I'll pass it on... Yeah of course she is, she aint stupid!" Ellen barked at into the phone. "Yeah, yeah. Sure... Ok... Yeah bye."

Ellen hung up the phone, her back to me and Ash, her shoulders tight. She took a deep breath before turning back round, a forced smile on her worn yet beautiful face. "That was Bobby, he's been looking for you Bella." Her voice was light, holding back some emotion that I couldn't get a read on.

"What does he want?" I asked bluntly, I didn't think he was looking for me to check up on me somehow. To make sure I was safe and happy.

"He wanted to make sure that you were ok, hadn't got yourself into any fool trouble." Maybe I was wrong. "And he also told me to tell you to check your goddamn messages and ring him back." No, I wasn't wrong, what a surprise.

"Nice of him to check in." I said nochantly while taking a sip of my now lukewarm coffee and holding back the shudder the tepid liquid gave me.

"He sounded a bit..." Ellen trailed off, apparently not able to find the right word. "I think you should check your messages Bella, he wouldn't have asked if it wasn't important. Hey, he might even have a lead on Charlie."

"Impossible." Ash said with a snort. "Or statistically unlikely anyway. If I haven't turned up anything yet then the older timer wouldn't have found something." After getting to know Ash a bit better I thought that he was probably right. I'd never met anyone smarter before in my life, sometimes I didn't understand whole sentences that came out of the mans mouth.

"Thanks Ash." Ellen snapped before turning back to me. "Still, I think you should check the messages hon."

"I'll do it after I've helped open up." I told Ellen, I'd only be doing it for her I told myself, she almost sounded like she was pleading with me, and after everything she'd done for me so far I couldn't deny her this small favour. I had no desire to get back in touch with the man the brothers considered an adopted father, as much as I liked the man, his 'sons' were on my list of people I never wanted to see, talk to or talk about ever again. The hurt ran much too deep.

"Ash and me can open up, you go check your phone sugar." Ellen smiled at me.

I nodded once at her before heading up to my room. Since I'd been at the Roadhouse I hadn't even looked at my phone let alone checked the messages. Everyone I wanted to speak to was in this building or had gone AWOL and didn't have my number anyway.

When I eventually found my phone stuffed at the bottom of my bag I was shocked to see that I had fifty missed phone calls, ten messages and twenty voicemails. Someone had wanted to speak to me real bad.

I checked the text messages first; not having to hear anyone's voice might be easier to deal with. The first one was from Bobby.

"**Boys told me you are going it alone you idiot. Ring me and let me know what is going through your head girl!"**

Ok, that didn't ring true. Surely the brothers would have just told Bobby that I'd found my dad and was heading home? As far as they knew that's what I was going to do right?

The second one was also from Bobby, great.

"**Rufus found the shifter. Ring one of us back and let us know you are ok!" **

I didn't know if I should read the rest of the messages, Bobby obviously knew I was ok now, eventually he'd get the message that I just didn't want to talk to him right? But then all the trouble he'd gone through for me came rushing back, almost like one of those cheesy flashback moments in films. No I'd read a few more, then I'd ring him, I owed him that much and probably more.

There were six more, all from Bobby which carried on in the same vein. Except for the last one, that just said;

**"Ring us"**

Other than that there was one from Alice, hers was one of comfort, telling me that when I wanted to talk she was there for me.

The last one, was from Dean. As soon as I saw his name in black and white my heart contracted painfully, my chest hurt, my head throbbed, I could feel my stomach drop twenty feet and the blood rushing to my ears.

I couldn't do it, I couldn't read it. So I moved onto the next thing. The voicemails.

Again the majority were from Bobby and a couple were from Alice, they were again all on the same lines as the text messages. All except the last two from Bobby.

"Bella, it's Bobby. We..." I could hear an audible sigh on the saved message before he continued speaking. "Just ring me back, please. It's important." His voice in this message was fed up and strung out. As though he'd finally reached the end of his very long tether.

The last message, was... Well it put me in motion. I hurriedly packed my bag and rushed down the stairs. My heart beating fiercely and a pit of dread buried deep within me.

"Bella, it's Bobby again. I guess you aren't gonna ring less I tell you..." Again another sigh, his voice was sombre. "It's Sam, he's... He's bad. And Dean, he's falling apart... They... We... Bella I think you should come here. Wouldn't ask if I didn't think ya needed too." He wouldn't have either, I knew that. I knew it must have been bad.

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**so... What did ya think? Questions, comments, good, bad I want them all :) until next time; love always Tametiger xx**


	22. Chapter 22

**hi guys, thank you all for the response that I've had so far! It's been amazing! Here's another chap for you on the eve of my birthday! So leave me a pressie in the form of a review :) as always I own nothing enjoy! **

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Chapter Twenty-Two

My Turn

Ellen and Ash had barely opened their mouths to repeat my goodbyes before I was dashing from the Roadhouse and jumping into my 'borrowed' car. The pit of dread in my stomach was getting worse with every passing second.

I was so ashamed of myself for ignoring phone calls and messages just because I'd been hurting. I knew that in this life that I'd chosen, personal feelings meant nothing. You were the job and that was it. You weren't a person any more. You were what ever you needed to be to get the job done. I knew that, Sam, Dean and Bobby had told me as much. But I'd still ignored their attempts at contact with me because I'd forgotten that I'd stopped being a person the second that I'd asked the brothers to train me. And because of that Sam was, well hurt I was guessing, Dean was a mess and I hadn't been there to help. I hadn't been there when they needed me.

Ellen had informed me it would take only three hours to get to Bobby's if I put my foot down.

I drove like a NAS car driver who'd never heard of a brake, the fact that I hadn't been pulled was a miracle. Maybe Cas was looking out for me?

Two hours into my drive and I started to recognise familiar streets, I was less than ten minutes away from Bobby's, beating by almost an hour Ellen's prediction for my arrival.

My phone rang, an annoying chirping sound that I would change the second I could. Without taking my eyes off the road I answered. I wouldn't be ignoring my phone again for a long time.

"Yeah?" I said, pressing speaker so that I could carry on driving with two hands on the wheel, probably a good idea as I was doing one hundred and twenty down the straight stretch of road.

"Bella?" The voice which I couldn't place for a second said down the line.

"Yeah." I repeated, a little hesitantly now.

"The cops are looking for your car, it's finally been reported stolen, I'd ditch it if I were you Hot Stuff." Ash's voice echoed round the tiny, cramped space of my car.

"Crap!" I hissed, this was not what I needed right now. Especially as the sky had darkened so much that it almost looked like night. The heavens would surely open any time. "Thanks Ash."

"No probs' Hot stuff. Later's." Short and sweet, Ash really did grow on you. Even with the mullet.

With a sigh I ditched the car. Literally. I'd driven it in to a ditch at a much lower speed than I'd previously been driving, I wasn't going to be of any use to the Winchesters dead after all.

I started the ten minute drive, but half an hour walk to Bobby's with my bright pink bag slung over my shoulder. Walking so fast that I might as well have been jogging, my breathing was coming harsh and fast, my legs burning, but I didn't slow down, I couldn't. The brothers needed me. Bobby needed me. And no matter how much it was gonna hurt me I would not turn my back on them. It was my turn to help them.

Soon enough I could see the hulking outline of Bobby's imposing junk yard lingering in the distance. A dark shadow in the darker sky.

The first drops of rain hit me as I turned down the long, confusing drive that led to the main house. My footsteps echoed down the narrow alleyways of long dead cars on the gravel dirt. My feeling of dread and worry increasing with every step. And if I was being honest with myself so were my nerves.

I was scared. There I'd admitted it. I was scared, of seeing Dean again, of the feelings it would churn up and the hurt it would cause. It wasn't going to stop me, not for a second, but it did slow me down a little.

I was just turning the final bend when I heard a plea that made me stop dead.

"I need some help here. Please. Please." Dean's voice was pain, pure pain, there was no other word for it. I'd never heard anyone sound so broken in my twenty years. The little pieces that were left of my heart cried out for him.

I turned the corner, walking out from behind the wall of rusty cars to see Dean, looking handsome as ever, yet completely down trodden, tired beyond belief and given up. He was staring into the rainy sky, with tears running down his face.

"Dean?" I whispered, my voice almost breaking on that one word. My heart stuttering I took a step towards the man I'd thought I'd known so well.

"Bella?" Deans voice almost sounded full of worship for a second, his eyes widening, his mouth going slack and his whole body seemingly relaxed in front of my eyes. But then his mask slammed back in place, his body became rigid once more, his eyes tightened and his mouth turned down into an angry frown. "What are you doing here B? I thought you were going home?" His words were harsh this time, but something else was present in them, it was too hard to be hope, but it was something close to that.

"Bobby called, said you needed me." I replied, my heart fluttering, my stomach sinking. Every inch of me tingled with anticipation and nerves.

"Yeah, well I don't. Sorry, you've had a wasted journey sweetheart." Dean bit out at me, drinking down some scotch that I'd over looked clutched in his hand.

"Sorry, wrong choice of phrase. Bobby said Sam was hurt, that all together, the three of you needed me." I replied with my own bite in my voice. I was more than aware of the fact that Dean didn't need me. It had kept me up all night for the last two weeks. It had destroyed what was left of my soul. Or that's what it felt like anyway.

"Yeah, well like I said. Bobby was wrong. Hope you haven't come far." Dean said his eyes burning a hole into my head. It looked like he hated me. That hurt.

"I'll be the judge of that. Thanks." I replied coolly before walking towards Bobby's and ignoring the man behind me. Going against every instinct in my body.

"Go home Bella!" Dean called out behind me, obviously trying to give it one last shot at dissuading me from carrying on. That one sentence cut me deeper than he'd ever know. Penetrating to my very core.

I stopped for a beat, my voice when it came out was stronger than I'd have thought possible with the tears burning my eyes. "I haven't got a home anymore Dean."

I carried on walking towards Bobby's, the tears that were in my eyes threatening to overflow as the house appeared in front of me. The lights on, the house which had once inspired so much fear in me now felt as close to a home as anywhere, perhaps even more so, despite everything I'd been through with the Winchesters in the last couple of weeks.

I walked into the warm, welcoming house without knocking. I didn't need to here. Bobby's home was a safe heaven, somewhere I felt as though I'd always be welcome from now on. No matter what happened and how long had passed. It was instinctive, the knowledge that once you'd made good with Bobby you were always good until you made a huge mistake. And I'd not made one yet. Not with him anyway.

"Dean?" Bobby's worn and tired voice rang out into the kitchen which was looking even messier than the last time I'd visited a couple of months back.

"Sorry to disappoint but no, it's me." I called out as I dropped my bag and helped myself to a beer before following Bobby's gruff voice into the study.

"Bella?" Bobby asked, his eyes wide over the bags that had lined his face in the last few weeks. He looked like he'd aged at least ten years in the short time since I'd last seen him.

"Hi Bobby." I said with a shy, wan smile. Hopefully I'd get a better reaction from him than I had from Dean.

"Thanks for calling us back!" Bobby said sarcastically, but his eyes swam with relief, his beard trying to hide a very small smile.

"Yeah, well I'm here now." I smiled back.

"You see Dean out there?" Bobby asked me, his voice going back to serious now, leaving me in no doubt that this was why I was here.

"Yep." I replied, my own voice serious too, but I was sure for different reasons. "What's happened Bobby?" I wasn't going back over my reunion with Dean, not even for Bobby.

"Well." Bobby started telling me, his face tiring just on that one small word. But his next words were drowned out by a scream of pain coming from downstairs.

My blood ran cold, sweat broke out on my skin and my stomach plummeted once more. That scream could only have come from Sam. I ran. I could hear Bobby shouting me from behind, but I didn't stop, Sam's tormented screams hadn't ceased. I followed them down the stairs into the cluttered and dirty basement. What the hell was Sam doing down here? If he was hurting then surely he should be tucked up in bed.

In the corner of the large room stood a huge steel door. That's where the screams were coming from.

I looked through a slot in the door, a grill similar to the ones found in prison doors in super-max. What the hell was going on here? Sam was screaming, his whole body convulsing as he was strapped down to a tiny cot in the middle of a devil's trap in the center of the tiny room that lay beyond the iron door.

"Sam?" I whispered, but he was too far into his pain to hear my call. I raised my hand to open the door, to go and help him. To do something, anything when I felt arms wrap around my waist and tug me fiercely back from the door.

I looked round to see Dean pushing me back. "Bella you can't!" Deans voice was urgent yet pained.

Tears trickled down my face as Sam screamed once more, the sound reaching into my gut and pulling me towards him, wanting to do anything to help him. "I know sweetheart, I know." Dean said softly from next to me.

"What the hells been going on Dean?" I asked, my voice a whisper even though I'd meant for it to come out loud and strong.

"C'mon, I'll tell ya upstairs." Dean pushed me gently back towards the stairs, giving the room where Sam was being held a long look before following me up back towards the study.

I sat down on the sofa and looked from Dean to Bobby, waiting for answers as Sam's screams echoed round the vast house.

"So what the hell is going on? Why is Sam strapped down in there? What's wrong with him?" I asked the men as neither looked at me or spoke for a couple of minutes, my voice was strong again thankfully.

"He's addicted to demon blood." Dean said, his words low and pained.

"Ok. What?" I asked, addicted to demon blood? That didn't even make any sense.

"C'mon B. His mood swings, how he was always so happy to see Ruby, the sweats. He's addicted to blood." Dean said to me as though it should be obvious. It still made no sense to me though. Maybe I was being slow.

"He's drying out down there. Going cold turkey." Bobby added, his head held up by one hand, his face etched with new pain with every scream coming from downstairs.

"Ok..." I didn't even know where to start, or what to ask. "So how long till he's back? How did he even get addicted? I didn't know you could." This was really damn confusing.

Dean sighed, a fed up and annoyed sound, this was pretty much exactly what he didn't want to talk about, I could tell. "Look B, is it even really any of your business? What's it matter to you? Just go home. Go back to Fork's. Have a normal life. Please."

Enough was enough. I could see why Bobby had rang, these guys were falling apart, they needed me. But I didn't need this attitude. Dean didn't want me any more, fine, but I was staying till these men were back on their feet and I'd be doing it without Dean telling me to go away every five minutes.

"Dean, shut up will ya? Stop telling me to go home. I haven't got one and I already told ya months ago that I wasn't gonna have a normal life! I'm staying here till Sam, Bobby and you are all good to go again! And then I'll leave and you'll never have to see me again, don't worry! Until then though, keep your god damn mouth shut cause I ain't going anywhere!" My words came out in acid, my tone biting and cold, my anger and hurt at an all time high. "And as for what's it got to do with me? Sam's one of my friends, and I don't turn my back on the people I care about, not ever!"

"That isn't what I meant B... Just you have a chance.." Dean started saying, his tone lighter, softer now.

I cut over him, my tone still cold and hard. "Stop the bull Dean! And let's stop the trip down memory lane, yeah? We had this conversation almost six months ago! I do not have a chance at a normal life! I know it, you know it. Stop staying I do to make yourself feel better! I'm staying, that's the end of it! When you're all good to go I'll leave. You'll be free of me for good. Don't worry." I took a deep breath, pissed as hell, tears threatening to swim in my eyes once more. As Deans mouth opened again I turned to face Bobby. "Am I ok to use the spare room again Bobby?" I asked the older man.

"Er... Yeah, sure Bella." Bobby said, his eyes wide as he looked from Dean to me.

"Thanks." I muttered before going to get my bag and heading up the stairs to the room I used everytime I stayed here.

I threw my bag on the bed, and pulled out my phone. I'd been putting this off but I needed to know. What had Dean said in his text? Was it care and worry? Something he couldn't say to my face? A deep breath and I opened the text.

**Heard about the shifter, give Bobby or Sam a ring. They're worried. D. **

That was it. That was all; I growled in frustration and anger before turning to the punch bag that was still hanging in the room and pulling out my i-pod. A little anger management wouldn't go a miss right now.

I'd been taking out my frustrations on the bag for almost thirty minutes, holding back the tears that I desperately didn't want to shed here when the music changed. One of my chick songs came on. The first one that had played the first time the brothers had driven me here to meet Bobby. Pink's 'Blow Me One Last Kiss'.

My punches started waning, my kicks barely touching as the words penetrated my anger and opened the flood gates for my tears.

"_Eyes on fire, eyes on fire,_

_And they burn from all the tears,_

_I've been crying, I've been crying,_

_I've been dying over you,_

_Tie a knot in the rope,_

_Trying a hold, trying a hold,_

_But there's nothing to grab so I let go!"_

I threw one more ineffectual punch before sobs shook my body.

_"I think I've finally had enough,_

_I think I maybe think too much,_

_I think this might be it for us,_

_Blow me one last kiss."_

**My legs shook with the force of my anguish, shook so hard that they collapsed from under me. There really was nothing left to hold onto anymore, Dean's attitude had proven that. Any shred of hope I'd been clutching at went into the dark pit of my stomach that was piece by piece sucking in my fractured heart. I'd never known pain like it. **

_**"I think that life's too short for this,**_

_**Want back my ignorance and bliss,**_

_**I think I've had enough of this,**_

_**Blow me one last kiss."**_

**Tears swarmed down my face, my knees curling up into my chest, my arms wrapped around myself as though to prevent the last of my heart being sucked into the deep pit of despair that I'd fallen in to. **

**The song finished and I ripped out my earphones, I didn't need to listen to anymore. Those lines summed it all up, all the heart break, all the despair, I felt like Dean was torturing me, and he didn't even realise it. **

**"Jesus Bella!" Came a voice from the doorway. I spun my head to see who was stood watching my moment of weakness. Who was watching me when I was at my most vulnerable.**

**Both Bobby and Dean were stood watching me with wide, pained eyes. Great. **

**"Want to take a picture?!" I barked at the men, not even trying to stop the flow of tears. It was too late they'd seen the depth of my hurt. **

**"Bella, what's wrong girl?" Bobby asked me in a soft voice, inching into my room and bending over. He reached out a hand as though he was going to comfort me but didn't know where to start. **

**Dean was still stood in the doorway, his eyes like a window into my own pain. **

**When I answered Bobby I was actually speaking to Dean, my eyes never leaving him, my voice still choked with tears. "I don't know if I can do this. I'm sorry. It hurts too much." This was probably the most selfish sentence I'd ever uttered, I knew they needed me, I knew it but if I had to stay so close to him, knowing that he didn't even like me anymore let alone want me then I was going to die. I honestly thought that. **

**"What? What are you talking about girl? What hurts?" Bobby's voice was still gentle, his hand actually managed to touch my shoulder now. **

**I sob overcame me once more before I could speak again. But Dean saved me the trouble. "I do. I did. I hurt her." His voice came out sounding so upset, so pained that I felt it myself. His words were almost a little choked, if I didn't know any better than I'd have said he was feeling exactly as I did. **

**"You did this?" Bobby sounded confused as he turned to face Dean. **

**"Yeah, I did this." Was Deans answer, his eyes begging with me, pleading with me. **

**"No you didn't. Not your fault." I muttered, trying desperately to get myself under control. **

**"Then who's is it?" Dean asked me, his voice still broken. **

**"Mine." I whispered. **

**"That's bull shit B, how is it your fault?" Dean frowned at me, apparently getting over the hurt fairly quickly. **

**"Er.. Guys?" Bobby cut in, standing up and facing the doorway. We ignored him. **

**"I thought there was more than there was. Sam tried to warn me, there was no future, but I ignored him, I let myself think." **

**"Shut up!" Bobby growled out. Dean and I both looked at him with bemusement. What was the old man's problem, could he not see that Dean and I were having a moment here? "You hear that?" Bobby asked us. **

**"I don't hear anything." I replied with a frown after listening to silence for a minute or two. **

**"Exactly." Bobby growled before getting up and rushing from the room. **

**I clicked on at the same time Dean did, both of our faces turning hard and worried. I followed Dean at a run down the two flights of stairs and into the basement. There was nothing, Sam had gone. I had no idea how, the door had been locked from the outside and the room was houdini proof. He must have had some kind of help. My guess was Ruby, but how? Bobby's place was so protected against demons that it was almost a fortress. **

**The three of us looked at each other before all together we ran back up the stairs and out into the junk yard. **

**Dean motioned with his head that he was going right, that Bobby was to go left and that I was to carry straight on. I nodded and ran, making sure as I did to keep my eyes and ears open. **

**I slowed down as I moved deeper into the Labyrinth of cars gone by, my footsteps echoing down the narrow aisles, my gun out at the ready. I'm not entirely sure why I did that, it wasn't like I was gonna shoot Sam, but I needed some protection, I felt that in my gut. **

**I could hear nothing, but the horrible feeling I had of being watched and the hairs rising on my arms told me that something was off. Someone was near here. I didn't ignore those feelings anymore, didn't ignore my intuition, I relied on it. It was normally right. **

**A car started a few aisles over, an awful shrieking noise that told me the car wasn't in the best working order ever. **

**Sam. I knew it instinctively. However if Sam was over there, who was here with me? Who was following me? I'd have to work that one out later. **

**I started flat out sprinting to the end of my alley, turning left just in time to see a clapped out mini van speeding out of the gates a few yards away. "Shit!" I called, my shoulders dropping and my gun falling to my side. **

**"Bobby!?" I heard Deans startled cry and turned back down where the car had come from, my heart picking up a familiar worried rhythm. **

**When I reached them Bobby was just coming round, a lump appearing on his forehead, blood seeping slowly from a wound on his head. Sam had done this. Sam, the person least likely to ever hurt anyone. He really did need saving. **

**"Sam.." Bobby managed to croak out sounding hurt and not quite with it. He looked like he might have had a concussion. **

**"B, help me." Dean grunted at me as he lifted Bobby from the ground. I put the older man's arm around my shoulder and helped to half drag him back to the house, and Bobby was no lightweight that was for sure. **

**By the time we'd got Bobby settled at the dinning table, a cold drink in front of him and an ice pack on his head, he'd come round for real. **

**"How we gonna track Sam?" He asked sounding a hell of a lot better. **

**"I've got an idea." I said while pulling out my phone. I'd been thinking of ways to help while we were dragging Bobby's ass back here. Anything to take my mind off the way my muscles screamed in protest at the large weight. Not that I'd ever tell him that, I valued my knee caps way too much. **

**"I can do it." Dean said before going over to a laptop and dragging it to him. "There's nothing I don't know about that kid." **

**"He'll be doing his best to avoid you. I've got a new secret weapon though, and I guarantee you they'll have found Sam by the morning." I said back, keeping my voice neutral and avoiding looking at the man. My heart stuttered with pain everytime I did. **

**"What?" Dean asked looking up to me. **

**"Trust me k?" I just said with a small smile while dialling the number and putting the phone on speaker. **

**"Dr. Bad speaking, what's up?" The familiar voice drawled at me from down the line. **

**"Hey dude, got another missing person for you, but I need this one ASAP if ya can?" I asked with another smile as I imagined Ash sat rolling his eyes at me and flipping his mullet back. **

**"Too easy Hot Stuff, I thought you'd have a challenge for me." Ash said. **

**"Nope, but it's a rush job and I'll buy you another ten brewskies for it. Just tell Ellen I'm good for it." **

**"Sweet. So who is it?" Ash asked. **

**"It's Sam." I replied in a small voice. **

**"Ok, what you got for me, anything?" Ash asked, down to business now, I could hear him tapping away on something, probably a computer, in the background. **

**"He drove off in a blue, beat up mini van, and he's avoiding even the Dean radar, so he won't be using his normal aliases, probably something generic like John Smith." I told Ash with equal seriousness. **

**"As soon as he holes up somewhere I'll give ya a ring hot stuff. And I'll tell Ellen about the brewskies." I could hear the smile in his voice. "I best see you soon then ya hear me?" **

**"I hear ya, doctor bad. Now shove off and find my missing people!" I laughed before ending the call. **

**"Hot stuff?" Dean asked me with a frown, his arms crossed in front of him and his mouth down turned. I didn't get the problem. **

**"He'll have found Sam as soon as he checks in somewhere." I reassured both men around the table. **

**"Yeah sure." Dean growled at me. **

**"Hey! What's with the 'tude dude?" I snapped, I'd only been trying to help save Sam and I got that Dean was stressed beyond belief but I so didn't need to be on the end of his mood. **

**"You sit up there in your room sobbing like your heart's broken and looking like you're about to top yourself! Then you ring some random dude up who starts calling you 'hot stuff'! Yeah, you're really cut up sweetheart!" Dean was almost shouting at me, his voice was not just angry but hurt as well. At least he'd explained his crazy for me. **

**"Dean, I met that guy two days ago at the Roadhouse, he's a friend, kind of, and he has a damn mullet! I couldn't even look at another guy right now! And if you don't care about me then why the hell do you give a shit?" I raised my voice right back. **

**"A mullet?" Bobby questioned quietly his face screwed up as though he were trying to solve a quadratic equation. **

**"Two days and he's already calling you hot stuff and saying he best see you soon hey? Wow, some fast moves you must have pulled there B!" Dean snarled at me. **

**"I haven't done anything D! I haven't touched another man! You're the one that screwed me over not the other way around so don't make out like I'm the big bad bitch here dude! You left me remember! You did that! I tried to get you to stay, I even told you how I felt but you wanted nothing to do with me! So even if I had jumped on someone else -which I haven't - then how dare you make me out to be the crappy person here Dean!" I was furious, and trying so hard not to start crying again. **

**"I left so that you'd have a normal life! So that you could have a real relationship, a real happy ever after and all that other crap!" Dean shouted back at me, he stood up now, his anger obviously at boiling point. **

**"I didn't want a normal life! I'm never gonna have a normal life! I've told you that! But instead of listening to me, you decided you knew what was best for me! You're just like him! You're just like Edward! Except in his own twisted way at least Edward loved me!" I was on my feet now as well, my hands leant on the table as I shouted out my abuse at the man who I'd thought was the other half of me. **

**"So you'd rather I was like your ex? The one who tried to rape you? Get real B!" **

**Red flashed hard deep within me, a burning anger that made me react before I thought. And react I did. I pulled my fist back and threw it forward over the table that seperated us. My fist connected with Deans cheek. Hard. **

**His eyes showed hurt, both phyiscal - it had been one hell of a punch - and emotional. Then his eyes flashed as hard as mine had, his hand raised in a fist, ready to strike me right back. **

**"Enough!" Bobby shouted out, his voice as furious as Deans and mine were. "That's enough, now sit back down and shut up! The both of you!" Dean and I automatically followed the order from Bobby who was red in the face after a second of staring hard at each other. "Now we've obviously got an out of hand doctor Phil moment going on here, but we've also got a rouge hunter who's addicted to demon blood, and a man who's sprung back to life just to help Bella! I don't know about you igits but I think we better solve the last two clues first okay!?" **

**"What do you mean a man sprung back to life?" Dean asked Bobby, the snap still in his voice. **

**"A mullet, a man who calls himself doctor bad, who's at the Roadhouse with Ellen and can find Sam in little over a day? C'mon it shouldn't have taken you this long Einstein!" Bobby growled at Dean while I just frowned, I was pissed off and I didn't get what Bobby was on about. **

**"Hang on you mean..?" Dean muttered looking both happy and awestruck. **

**"Got there soon enough." Bobby replied with an eye roll. **

**"Ash?" Dean asked. **

**"What about him?" I muttered with my arms crossed. **

**"Ash, Ash is the guy who called you hot stuff? Who's helping to find Sammy?" Dean asked me sharply. **

**"Yeah, so?"**

**"So, Ash is dead B." Dean stated sounding angry again. **

**"No, he's not. He's at the Roadhouse with Ellen, and very much alive." I said slowly, had Dean gone mad or did he just think that I was making friends with ghosts now? **

**"Ring him back!" Dean ordered me. **

**I raised my eyebrows and folded my arms again, hell no was I doing anything when told to in that tone of voice. **

**"Like living with a bunch of damn crazy chicks." Bobby muttered while taking out his phone and ringing someone. He left the room talking to someone on the other end of the line, shooting Dean and me a warning glare before he left. I felt like a kid being told to play nice. **

**"So... You been at the Roadhouse then?" Dean asked me sounding casual. **

**"What, you wanna make small talk now?" I snapped. **

**"I don't want Bobby to blast us full of buckshot if he hears us arguing again." Dean replied, his voice even again. Fine if he was gonna take the high road then so was I. **

**"For the last couple of days yeah, I stayed with Ellen. Seems like you've had a more eventful time of it though." My voice was genuinely sad for Dean as I said the last bit, he must have been going through hell and for that I did feel bad for him. Of course I'd been going through my own hell, but a little more on the selfish side of things. **

**"You could say that. Yeah." Dean replied, all of the fight leaving him for real this time. **

**"What happened?" I asked gently. **

**"Cas woke me, said he had something important to tell me. Yada yada, I found Sam drinking blood from a demon before he exorcised one in front of me with his mind. I dragged his ass back here and the rest you know." Dean said, trying so hard for casual but coming out beat and tired. **

**"I leave you two alone for a couple of weeks and look what happens! You're wrecks without me." I joked with a small smile, the only way to get through to Dean was with humour, that was the only way I'd bridge the gap right now. It was a bit like putting a piece of rope over the Grand Canon and calling it a freeway but it was a start. **

**"Like you did much better sweetheart? At least we stayed free of the Lynard Syknard rodies." Dean said back with almost a smile. **

**"Nah you just got woken up by Agent Smith in angel form." I cracked back with a wink. **

**Dean chuckled back a little. "First time I've done that in what feels like forever." He said to me in a low and serious voice. **

**"What? Got verbally taken down a peg or two? Cause I find that hard to believe you know?" I quipped, not really comfortable with how Deans voice had turned on me, I saw danger signs approaching and wanted to jump off here. **

**"No, laughed." Dean said his voice almost a whisper. **

**"You're choice D." I said back in a low voice. He'd chosen that, chosen this. This was his fault and I wasn't having his misery on my shoulders, I had my own and that was heavy enough. **

**"B, about what you said?" Dean asked me, sounding a little worried. **

**"What bit?" I asked. **

**"About Edward actually loved you..." My heart hammered hard against my chest, the blood drained from my face. I hoped to god that Dean wasn't going to go where I thought he was. **

**"Yeah?" I almost whispered, dread, hope and naeousia running through me. **

**"He... He... He wasn't the only one." Dean sounded like he was actually choking on his words. My heart leaped into my throat, so hard that I felt like I was going to be sick. **

**"What do you mean?" I asked, I thought I knew, but I had to be sure. Was Dean saying what I thought he was? And if he was, then why, why did he just leave. Just like that? And I wasn't buying the whole I did what I thought was best for you bullshit, I could hear that it wasn't the real reason, I could hear the lie in his voice. **

**"You know what I mean B." Dean stared into my eyes, effectively dazing and hypnotising me. "I... I lov.."**

**"That's Ash alright! And he's got a lead on Sam already, get your stuff you're heading through North Dakota until Sam actually stops." Bobby interuppted the most important moment of my entire life. I wanted to just tell him to piss off back into the other room for five minutes or so. **

**As I went back upstairs to grab my bag though I came to the relisation, even if Dean did confess his love for me, then what did it change? Nothing that was what. He'd still left me, he'd still not wanted me. Love just made that worse, not better. I didn't know if my heart could stand to hear those words, not when after we'd found Sam and I was going it on my own. Not when in a couple of days he was out of my life once more. Not when I'd be left with a hole in my chest again. Love just made that worse.**

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**So I hope you enjoyed that chap :) let me know what you thought. Love always Tametiger xx**


	23. Chapter 23

**hi guys. Thanks for all the birthday messages and the reviews! Here's the next chapter for you. As always I own nothing :) xx**

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**Chapter Twenty-Three**

**The L word**

It had been the most awkward five hours of my life so far. And that was saying something. We'd been following Sam's trail, urged on by both Ash and Bobby who were ringing us with updates and directions. Dean was driving like a mad man, his jaw clentched tight, his fists white against the steering wheel, silence prevelant through-out. Not even music kept us company.

"I need to pee." I finally blurted out after holding my bladder for the last hour, too worried about invoking another heart to heart or Deans anger to speak up until it was critical.

"Can't it wait?" Dean snapped at me, his voice a rough velvety growl that had my insides twisting in a deliciously bad way.

"Not unless you want the leather stained." I replied, actually crossing my legs now.

Dean sighed, a deep pissed off sigh but pulled over a mile down the road at a gas stop. "Be quick." He barked at me as I left the car almost hopping.

I resisted the urge to flip him off and instead almost ran into the small shop that acompanied the pumps.

"I need to use the restroom." I basically screamed at the man behind the counter.

"They're only for customers." The man replied sounding bored.

"I'll buy something then, just please let me use the toilet." I said, jiggling a bit on the spot.

The man passed me a key and pointed to a door in the far wall. Without so much as a thank you I ran to the toilet.

Five minutes later and with a bag full of junk food that I didn't want, I was back in the car with Dean. I'd had that horrid feeling of being watched again as I made my way across the short distance from the shop to the Impala. "Took you're time didn't you?" He barked at me.

"And for that comment you're not getting any of this lovely pie I brought." I smirked as I pulled out a cherry pie. Deans favourite.

"I'm not hungry." Dean said back. The situation must have been dire. "Bobby rang, Sam's at some high rate hotel down in Alliance."

"How long till we get there?" I asked equally serious, putting the pie away as well. My hunger had suddenly dissappeared.

"Don't make me get out a journal again sweetheart!" Dean said with a smile, a trip down memory lane that I wasn't so sure I wanted to take.

We lapsed back into silence, Deans foot going down further on the gas. His driving almost as insane as mine was when I was trying to reach him and Sam.

"You ever feel like you're being watched sometimes?" I asked, worried about that feeling, worried as my instincts told me that it wasn't something good.

"When I'm being watched, then yeah." Dean said back, shooting me a look before turning back to the road. "Why?"

"Back at the station, when I was walking back to the car I felt like I was being watched." I told Dean, a hunting problem we could safely speak about.

Dean cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yeah, well I may have been.. Er..."

I cut over him with an eye roll. "We're you also watching me back at Bobby's when we split off? Cause I felt the same thing then. And dude it's not admiring glances. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end."

"I didn't see anything, didn't feel anything either, you're probably just being paronoid B." Dean told me.

"Yeah, yeah. I guess you're right." I replied, it bothered me still, but if Dean thought that I was being paronoid then I was almost certain he was right. Dean was an excellent hunter, and I trusted him and Sam with that aspect of my life above anyone else.

"Looks like this is it sweetheart." Dean said, glancing up at the large building we'd parked in front of only half an hour later.

"So what, we go in?" I asked, a little hesitant. I didn't know what to expect or what we were going to do now.

"No B, we're just gonna sit out here and wait for Sammy to come out and join us of his own free will." Dean replied sarcastically.

"No need to be rude." I said while pulling out a clip for my gun, a knife and a pair of handcuffs from my bag.

"When did you get handcuffs sweetheart?" Dean asked me with raised eyebrows and a smirk that had my traitorous blush spreading across my cheeks.

"Iron handcuffs coated in silver, got 'um after the shifter back in Louisianna." I replied, refusing to take the bait that had been so carefully laid.

Together we made our way out of the car and to the huge building that was way more opulant than anything we'd stayed in recently. Or ever.

Stepping inside the hotel I was hit by blocks of colour and chintz, way too garish for my fancy, poofy furniture dotted around the hectic room. Glancing at it all gave me one hell of a headache. "I think we've found the only room in the world that would've made Leberachie say, 'whoa, step back. No-one's that gay!'" I told Dean as I sheilded my eyes from the glare of the room.

Dean gave a half smile before heading straight for the stairs. I was right behind him, stopping only to flash my F.B.I badge at the recepionist who tried to stop us. As soon as he saw the badge his eyes went round and he took a protective step back round his desk.

"Where we going?" I panted as we took the stairs two at a time.

"The honeymoon suit." Dean glanced breifly over his shoulder at me before he carried on running.

"Of course we are." I moaned as we ran up the next flight of stairs. Top floor, great.

Seven flights of stairs later and we were stood breathlessly outside of the honeymoon suit. Room 613.

"Stay out here, if Sammy comes out before me.." Dean trailed off looking stressed and angry beyond belife. I just nodded at him and took a fighting stance as Dean picked the lock and walked into the room.

I stood, on edge and on guard for five minutes, listening to the disturbing sounds of fighting and arguing coming from inside the room. The noises were muffled and faint but still unmistakable.

The door swung open and I was ready, my senses on high alert, my arms up at my face ready if I needed to be.

Ruby came out of the room looking scared, her eyes flashing black as she saw me. "Well, well cherry pie. Nice to see you again but I gotta go. Dean and Sammy are in there working it out, I'm sure that they could use your imput." Ruby tried to get passed me but I pushed her hard against the wall, my hand at her throat and my other going for a knife.

"Why don't you stick around till the treaty's signed Ruby?" I asked brandishing my knife at her throat as well. I was pretty sure that she was behind all of this, and as such I wasn't letting her go until the brothers told me too. Or Dean did anyway.

"You know what? Don't think I will." Ruby said while bringing her knee up straight into my stomach, I lent forward a little, pain sharp in my gut, but I quickly gained my equilbrium and stood upright. I sent a left hook at her face followed by an uppercut. Both conected and sent the demons staggering backwards.

She came at me again, and I felt her send a shovel punch to my kidneys. It hurt, it hurt like hell, it hurt so bad that I fell to the floor breathless. Ruby grinned at me, her eyes shining black once more before she turned on her heel and strutted out of the corridor.

My hand went to my ribs, trying to work out if anything was broken or not. I encountered something I really wasn't expecting and which made me feel slightly dizzy. The handle of a knife. The bitch had stabbed me. Shit.

My mind went blank. Despite all the first aid I'd learnt I didn't know what to do, whether it was bad or not. Did I leave the knife in? Yank it out? What?

Just as I leant further against the wall my hands wrapped round the handle and ready to pull it out the door swung open. Sam stood there, his face an angry frown, his face bruised, his lip split. He looked just like himself, just more angry than normal. His eyes lit upon me, bulging in surprise. His lips turning down and his eyes sad as he saw the knife sticking out of my side.

"Bells!" He sounded concerned and upset. Exactly how he would have before, had he really changed that much?

"Hey Sammy. How you doing?" I asked Sam with a pained chuckle, my breath was becoming more shallow now, the pain increasing and my eye sight blurring slightly.

"Oh Bells." Sam said, his eyes sofening as he bent down over me.

"I think Ruby got me good this time." I whispered with a smile, trying to keep the mood light despite needing immediate and urgent medical attention.

"What did you do?" Sam asked me, his voice hard now.

"What? I just tried to stop her running away." I gasped as Sam stood back up, his face dispassionate as he looked down at me. "Sammy why did you leave me?" I asked as I felt blood rushing steadily down my side. I wasn't sure if I'd ever get the chance to ask this question again, or any other for that matter.

"Because you're no good for him Bells, and he's no good for you. We're hunters and I told him, you'd just get yourself killed if you hung around. And look. I was right. I'm sorry Bells." Sam said, turning his back on me and walking away.

"Sam?" I gasped out, I couldn't believe that Sam had just turned his back on me, while I was by his own admission, dying. "Dean!?" I called out louder as Sam dissapeared, if Sam had gone where was Dean and was he ok?

I tried to move to the room, but every slight movement sent my vision more blurry, the pain more intense. "Dean!" I shouted louder, the effort draining me of more strength.

"I'm ok B, I'll be there in a second." Dean called back, his voice sounding as though he was shedding tears. What had happened in there?

"Erm... D?" I called, my voice hardly getting up the volume needed.

"I'm coming." Dean muttered, his voice no louder than my own.

Blackness was steadily clouding my vision, black spots dancing before my eyes. Breathing was hard now. Hard and painful.

My eyes started closing, but I didn't want to go to sleep just yet. I wanted to see Dean once more, I fought the sleep with everything I had. The blackness faded slightly, a dull, dark grey now which was fighting with me. But I fought back.

I heard Deans heavy and slow footsteps coming ever closer to me.

"Shit! Bella!" Deans voice came from a long way away. "B, sweetheart, open your eyes!" He ordered me. I hadn't even realised they were closing.

I opened them with great difficulty. "Hey D." I croaked out with a small tired smile.

"B! C'mon B, stay awake for me!" Deans face was panicked, his eyes swimming as he looked at my knife wound.

"Dean." I breathed out, the smile still on my face. I didn't care anymore, didn't mind that he didn't want me. I didn't have a future, I could feel it. The blackness wasn't sleep, it was the end. "Dean... I love you." I whispered, my eyes starting to fall.

"B, B, Bella, open your eyes damn it! B! Bella!" I could hear him crying, I wanted to stop it, wanted him to feel as peacful as I was starting too, but I couldn't find the energy anymore. "I love you Bella. I love you. Don't leave me. Please. Please. Don't leave me."

The blackness claimed me, the peace taking over and whisking me away.

~0~

I woke up in a light white room, it was spacious and fairly nice. There was a huge table in the middle with beers and cheeseburgers on. This must have been heaven. At least I'd made it to heaven. Maybe I'd be able to finally see my mother and Phil again?

"B!?" A voice gasped out, it sounded both happy and shocked at the same time.

I turned my head to see Dean stood across the other side of the room from me. "Dean?" I asked with a frown. No. No. No. He couldn't be. How?

"Oh god! Bella!" Dean rushed out, tears dripping down his handsome face as he ran to me. He swept me up in his arms, his hands tangling in my hair, tears leaking down my own face as I held him back just as hard.

"D, how did you get here? What happened?" I asked, pulling away ever so slightly, my heart breaking a new. This man, his time shouldn't have been up, he hadn't even had a chance yet. And he deserved a chance. A chance at happiness for once. He was owed that much.

"The angles they brought me here." Dean whispered pulling me back to him and showering the top of my head with kisses. I could feel the salt water dripping into my hair, he still hadn't stopped crying.

"We're in heaven then?" I asked with a sigh. The angels owed him so much more than this.

"No sweetheart, not heaven, more like a waiting room." Dean said, his hands cupping my face and stroking the sides of my mouth where it turned down into a frown.

"Oh crap, have I gotta go through all that St. Paul stuff? Why should I be allowed into heaven? All that bullshit? Because if I do I'm not so sure I'm gonna get in." I asked Dean who seemed way more caught up than I was and I'd been here longer I assumed.

"B, you're not dead." Dean beamed those words out, kissing my forehead after each word. His voice almost laughing he seemed so happy.

"I must be. I felt myself die. I felt that. And my side, it doesn't even sting now." I said reaching for my knife wound and only finding smooth unblemished skin. "Oh crap, am I in a coma or something? Because that one would definatly suck."

"Cas brought you back sweetheart, he brought you back." Dean breathed out, kissing my forehead once more.

"You mean, I'm not dead? And neither are you?" I asked, hoping beyond all doubt that he was telling me the truth.

"No, we're not dead sweetheart." Dean said, cupping my face once more and staring into my eyes. "I thought... I thought I'd lost you B." Tears sprung to his beautiful eyes once more. "Don't ever do that to me again sweetheart! Don't ever leave me again." Dean said before his eyes softened even more. "I love you Bella."

My heart skipped a couple of beats, emotion swelling my chest so much that it almost hurt. These were the words I'd been waiting to hear for months, and I could hear the sincerity ringing true behind everyone of them. He meant it. He did. And I loved him. With every fiber of my being. But love wasn't enough, love wasn't going to keep him by my side.

"Then why did you leave?" I asked gently. I wanted to forget that, to put the past to rest, to tell Dean just how much I cared as well and then hold him and never let go. But I couldn't, I couldn't let myself be hurt like that again. The pain was worse than dying, something I knew first hand now.

"Sam..." Dean sighed but didn't let go of my face, didn't stop looking into my eyes. "He said that with you here I was weak, and so were you. That I was bad for you and that I'd only end up getting you killed. Look how right he was there. He told me that your dad was there and I should just let you go so that you could be happy. That you'd never be truly happy with me."

"I was happy with you. I loved you Dean." I told the man softly.

"Loved me?" Dean asked, his hands slipping away from me, his posture slumping and his mask snapping back into place.

"I love you, you idiot! But Dean you broke my heart..." I trailed off lost. Words started spouting out of my mouth without me thinking about them. Dean had that effect on me. "Maybe if Sam had said that I was no good for you, that I'd have got you killed I'd have left too... I don't know. And I don't know if those three little words are gonna fix everything. I want them too, I want them too so bad. But I just don't know."

Dean looked at me with a small crease on his forehead. His eyes watching my lips as I spoke. When I finished speaking Dean didn't say a word. He just took my face back into his hands and brought his lips crashing down to mine.

His hand wrapped gently round the nape of my neck, his tongue licked my lips, my hands grabbed his arms and I was pulling him closer to me. I opened my mouth letting my tongue tangle with his. The kiss deepened, his hands tangling in my hair, I stood on my tiptoes wanting every inch of me to touch him, to feel him. My skin sung, my heart started beating again, I was alive again, after almost two weeks I was living again.

"Well, well. I'm glad to see you two are getting along again." A voice issued out from behind us making us both whirl round to face it. An older man with thinning white hair, shinning blue eyes and a smug smile on his face was stood next to Cas. An angel. One of the real douche bags. "Ahh... Young love. It's beautiful really." The man carried on as we faced him.

"And you are... A pervert?" I bit out, instantly alert as Dean's body went into lock down. Great. This wasn't going to be good.

The older man chuckled, a horrid sound that had the hairs standing on end at the back of my neck. This was not what I'd been led to believe angels were like. "She's funny. I can see what you like about her Dean. No I'm not a pervert. My name is Zachariach."

"Well hi. Now where the hell are we and how do we get out?" I asked again, seeing as how Dean was going all silent and tight jawed on me, which told me that we were deep in the lions den and we smelled good.

"You don't. Well not yet anyway. And if you don't take a cival tongue young lady you won't ever. We brought you back from the dead, we can sure send you back." Threats now. Nice.

"When do we get out then? Cause I gotta find my brother." Dean asked, his voice pissed but calculating. He was asking this specific question for a reason, he'd obviously seen something I hadn't.

"Don't worry, we know exactly where Sam is." Zachariaha told us with another of his smug smiles. "He's breaking the final seal." My blood ran cold as I realised just what the angel meant.

"No, he's not. I know he's gone a little odd. But he wouldn't do that, not ever." I told the angel, meaning every word. Sam would never unlease Lucifier on the world, no matter what.

"Even after what you saw, what he did, you still don't think he'd do it?" Zach asked me with raised eyebrows. "He left you to die without a look backwards and yet you're still defending him? You're more forgiving than most Bella." The douche was actually smiling.

"What!?" Dean asked, looking at me then the angel with narrowed, angry eyes.

"Sam, saw Bella dying, didn't help her, just walked away." Zach said with the air of someone who really couldn't have cared less. "Anyway, you're right Bella. He wouldn't break the final seal. He thinks he's stopping it. Lillith is the final seal. Her blood will release satan amongst us."

"He left you to die!" Dean asked me looking even more angry, his eyes telling me he didn't quite want to believe it.

"More important things right now D, end of the worlds slightly more important." I told him while jerking my head towards Zach and Cas, who'd so far not said a word, just stood looking helpless and worried.

"So let us stop him!" I bit out at the angel.

"Yeah, you see the thing is, we don't want you to stop him. A fights coming and we think that we've got a shot. That we're gonna win." Zach explained to Dean and me with another of his creepy smiles.

"Then what!?" Dean asked, his stress levels at an all time high.

"Then, you have peace on earth Dean. Heaven on earth." Well that sounded... Boring.

"Let me get this straight, you're going to unleash Lucifer so you can have peace on earth. That about right?" I asked Zach who smiled and nodded at me in response. "Hmmm... Fighting for peace. Bit of an oxymoron there."

"Hang on!" Dean said, his voice rising with his anger. "You said that I was brought up from hell to stop this, to stop Lucifer!"

"And you were, when he's here, you'll be the one to stop him Dean." Zach told the man, his eyes shining with aparent happiness. This was one sick dude.

"No dice! I want to go be with Sam, now!" Dean shouted, his voice as hard as ever.

"And you will be. After this is all done." Zach smiled again before vansihing in front of our eyes with Cas.

Dean sagged, but still looked furious. I wanted to go and hold him, to tell him everything was going to be ok and all that other bullshit. But I couldn't, because I wasn't so sure it would be ok. So instead I got proactive.

There were no doors in this room that I now realised was a cell, but the walls can't have been made of steel. So I grabbed a chair and threw it against the wall, thinking that if I could just make a hole, even a small one then I could tear the wall down piece by piece and we could get to Sam. Of course the chair broke into pieces and the wall was left undamaged.

I dug out my cell, maybe if I could call someone? Maybe Ash could track us down and get us out of here or even Bobby. There was no reception. I'd started getting angry now. We were being used like pieces in a game of chess!

I kicked the wall, with all the force I had. My kick was normally hard enough to smash through oak doors since I'd learnt how to kick properly. But it did nothing against the wall except for hurt my foot.

"We gotta get out of here!" I growled channeling the force of Bobby.

"We're in an angel panic room B, we're not gonna get out till they let us out." I spun round to see Dean sitting in one of the chairs with his head in his hands.

"We've got out of tighter spots." I said, refusing to give up.

"When?" Dean asked me looking up at me with a snide little smile on his face.

I struggled to think of an example. "Okay, we haven't, but you've never given up before, is this really the time to start? Just before the apocalypse?" I asked, my voice hard and impassioned.

"You mean now, when my brother has gone all evil on us, who walked past someone he conisdered as close as family while she was dying and not even try to help her. Now when he's listening to a demon instead of me. Now seems like the perfect time to give up to me sweetheart." Dean told me, his whole body spelling out defeat.

"That's crap! So Sam made a few crappy decisions, who hasn't? And anyway just because Sam's a little on the dark side, who says he can't be saved. Not only that but you're not on your own, you're not the only one gonna be fighting, for him and for every other poor bastard out there that's gonna be hurt by this!" I believed everyword I was saying.

"Sam's right sweetheart." Dean told me with a smirk.

"Huh? About what?"

"You are dramatic." Dean smiled widly at me before standing up with a sigh. "But your right. I guess. Any ideas on how we're gonna get outta here?"

"Erm... Wait for a mirical?" I suggested with a wry smile and a shrug. I was all out of ideas.

"Funny." Dean said while rolling his eyes at me.

"Thanks I try." I smiled as I inspected the walls closely, looking for any imperfections or weaknesses, it looked flawless to me but I still wasn't going to give up. Not yet. Not till I'd tried everything. "Hey D? Why did the angels bring me back? Why not just leave me dead? Then they wouldn't have to worry about Eve getting her vessel and messing up their war of the worlds massacre." I asked what had been niggling me since Zach had brought it up. I obviously wasn't important to them, and heaven knew I wasn't exactly worth bringing back from the dead; no pun intended.

"Maybe they thought that you were worth bringing back B?" Dean said, but he avoided my eyes and his voice held a hint of bullshit.

"And the other reason?" I asked while folding my arms, a trace of irony audible.

Dean sighed and faced me once more. Ahh, he was gonna tell me the truth now. "Cas told Zach that I wouldn't do anything, be of any use if you were dead. That I'd just give up."

"We all gotta die sometime, if I do -again- you can't just give up. You know that right?" I asked Dean softly while taking a step towards him.

He held his hands us and frowned at me slightly. "Hey! They were Cas' words, not mine sweetheart."

I smirked at him and went back to the walls. "Too late now D. You've already told me you love me!"

"Well that's gonna..." Deans words were cut off by the silent arrival of Cas who looked urgent and worried. Not a great look to see on an Angel who normally showed no emotion what so ever.

* * *

So I'm hoping you guys enjoyed this chapter. Tell me what you think either way :) I've joined Facebook finally so if anyone wants to add me it's nina tametiger Simpson. Until next time, love always tametiger xx


	24. Chapter 24

**Hey guys, thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far! Sorry about the wait for this chapter, but the next is almost finished so it should be out in a couple of days. **

**I own nothing from either supernatural or twilight. Enjoy :) **

Chapter Twenty Four

Saving The World

Dean looked at Cas with distrust, his amazing green eyes sparkling with it and his body language almost protective as he moved so he was pretty much blocking me from view of the angel. "We don't have much time Dean." Cas started saying, his voice urgent and for once full of emotion. What was up with that? Angels didn't have emotions right? They were like robots or something.

"Yeah, that I get. What I don't get is what you're doing here? I thought you wanted peace on Earth and all that other hippy shit Zach was talking about." If Dean got any tenser he wouldn't be able to move enough to talk.

"You, you and Sam and Bella. You've taught me the importance of freedom Dean. But that's not important right now. I'll explain myself if we all live. What is important is that we get out of here and stop Sam." Cas' eyes held urgency still but also a little bit of pride. He was standing up for what he believed in, even if it meant going against the rest of heaven. Something he should defiantly be proud of. Hell I was proud for the big doffus.

"How do we get out of here then?" Dean asked back, his body relaxing minutely. If I hadn't been so attuned to him, if I hadn't watched his every move and facial expression for the last six months I wouldn't have been able to tell it was that slight. But I knew then that I could come out from behind his back.

"I will get you to Sam, then I'll shall return and prevent Zach and the archangels from following you for as long as I can, but you have to hurry!" Cas' voice while still boring to the extreme had defiantly gained some emotion.

"I told ya all we had to do was wait for a miracle." I smiled at Dean as Cas walked to us with his hands out stretched. Dean just rolled his eyes at me as the angels chilly fingers touched my forehead and a white light burnt away my view of the room.

~0~

When the light vanished we were stood outside of the creepiest, abandoned looking nunnery I'd ever seen. The walls were crumbling with age, statues had been vandalised, the topiary was dead and the air around the building smelt of neglect and fear. A violent shiver of warning flashed up my spine. This was a bad place to be, I could feel that in my very soul; too bad this was the one place on earth that we actually needed to be.

"I'll hold back the other angels. Be careful." Cas said.

Before he could disappear though I had one thing I needed to say to him. "Thanks, for everything. Especially the bringing me back to life thing Castiel, that was pretty cool." I smiled as brightly as I could in the awful place. Cas just looked at me and bowed his head before disappearing once more. Gotta say, I was starting to see a bonus to a man that didn't talk much.

Dean and I looked at each other briefly before we turned as one and started running towards the massive oak doors in front of us that stood open. I didn't worry that neither of us had weapons on us, though the thought did cross my mind that they might be useful. No my only concern, and Deans, was to get to Sam. To stop him, to save him and the world in the process.

We sprinted through the doors, bursting through into a dusty, graffitied hallway, dead leaves crunching under our heavy footsteps, our breath coming in harsh pants. Adrenalin surged through my body, adrenalin and slight panic, my heart beating so fast that I felt it, so hard that it almost hurt.

Together Dean and I reached the end of the corridor, it branched off in two different directions. Shit. Which way to go!?

I turned to face the right corridor that lead off, more doors, more corridors. Shit! Shit!

"This way!" Dean barked at me, heading to the right, I turned on my heel and ran after him. The corridor that we ran down this time ended in two more huge oak doors, and through them Sam stood, his breathing as heavy as ours, his eyes burning with fury, his lips stained a dark red that made me shudder.

"Sam!" Dean and I screamed together at the top of our lungs. Desperation and more panic over took me. "Sam!" I screamed again, needing him to stop, to just look at us as we ran for him. Fifty feet. Fifty measly feet separated Dean and me from Sam, but running them, the whole world resting in between us and Sam, they felt like a million miles.

Sam turned to look at us, confusion and a little bit of relief visible on his face for the shortest second before the doors slammed shut of their own account. Shit!

"Sam!" Dean screamed throwing his body against the huge door, but not moving it an inch.

"Bella." One word, spoken at normal volume, as though he was stood right next to me made me freeze and turn back the way that we'd run from. For the first time in a long while I was scared.

Edward stood at the far end of the corridor a smile stretching his face and making a shudder run through my whole body.

I heard the doors burst open behind me and turned my back on Edward, even though every instinct in me told me not too.

Dean and me looked at each other before starting to head for Sam. Four little words, spoken in a calm tone stopped me though. "I've got your dad." Edward told me, as though he was telling me that it would rain tomorrow.

"B..!" Dean yelled at me, glancing at Edward, his face full of indecision and worry.

"Go, I've got this one!" I told him, turning my back on him and Sam, I couldn't leave this. I had to get my dad. Dean and Sam could handle this, they had too, and they had to do it without me.

"I'm not leaving you B." Dean growled at me, but his face kept going back to the now open room.

"You've got to D, Sammy needs you. I can handle him. Trust me." I meant every word, they'd taught me well enough so that I could handle one lonesome vampire. I knew deep down, in the pit of my stomach, that it wouldn't just be Edward, there was something not right about him, he wasn't alone, or wasn't working alone. But I needed to do this, I needed to get my dad back, once and for all.

A shout echoed from the room where Sam was gonna unleash Lucifer on the world. Deans eyes got round, he looked at me with regret and worry. "I love you B!" He shouted at me before turning and running for his brother, the way it should be.

"I love you too D." I called, hoping he heard me. Hoping he knew that I meant it, and desperately hoping it wasn't the last time I got to say it to him.

I turned to face Edward who hadn't moved, a relaxed smile still on his face while mine held anger. "Okay, you've got my attention. Where is he?" I asked Edward with my arms crossed, concious of the noises that sounded like shouting and fighting coming from behind me. I wanted nothing more than to turn back around and join them, than to help, but if Edward really did have Charlie then I needed to get him back.

"He's safe. For now." Wow, had Edward been taking lessons about being a bad guy from crappy eighties movies?

"So... What do I gotta do to get him back, and dude, don't say you, cause that so ain't gonna happen." I said trying for casual despite the urgency I felt rising in my throat.

"There's no need to be so crude Bella." Edward said with a small frown on his forehead, I begged to differ but kept my mouth shut for once. "Come with me. We've got a car waiting."

"We've?" I asked, knowing that I was in over my head but knowing I also had no choice but to follow.

"Jasper and Emmett are with me of course." What the hell did he mean of course? How was that an of course moment. Why were Jasper and Emmett with him? Had they been lying to me all along, siding and working with Edward since that night?

"Okay, I'll bite. Let's go." I was trying so hard to be nonchalant about this. So hard. But it wasn't working, I was divided, torn. I wanted Charlie back safe and sound, I wanted to get to the bottom of why the hell Jasper and Emmett were with Edward but I also wanted to be with Sam and Dean. What if they couldn't handle this alone. After all, it was the rise of Lucifer. Hell was literally coming to earth. I couldn't turn my back on that. Could I?

"If you don't come with us right now, all I've got to do is make one phone call. One phone call and Charlie's gone Bells. Gone for good and then your all alone. An orphan." Looks like my decision had been made for me then.

"Don't call me Bells." I bit out at Edward, fury colouring my words, Sam was the only one who could call me Bells. That was his name for me and he was the only one I'd let call me that now.

Edward just shrugged and started walking back to the entrance of the church.

My heart ached as I followed the vampire. I was leaving Sam and Dean when they needed me most. This couldn't be the right thing to do, surely?

Still I followed the way Edward had headed. No other choice that I could see open to me.

The corridor somehow seemed even more threatening as I walked back along it. The cobwebs thicker, the dust more obvious and the dead leaves that rattled in the breeze seem more horrific. The noise similar to that of ghosts rattling out a death sigh. Of course that could all be due to the fact that I was following a vampire to my almost certain death.

Something flashed past me, impossibly fast. A blur in the dirty corridor, blending in almost flawlessly. But I'd hung out with vampires too long, and I'd been a hunter for way too long to let the vampire get the jump on me. Turning as quick as I could I brought my hands up and blocked Edwards arm as he brought the plank of wood that he clutched in his white marble hand crashing down where my head would have been seven months ago before I knew any better.

Edwards eyes were completely black now his blow had been stopped. Surprise graced his once beautiful features but which were now twisted with something dark, all the humanity gone from him, drained away by some thing else. No matter how much of an asshole Edward could be, this wasn't him, something was using him, of that I was certain.

"Hey, I thought you just wanted me to follow you? You never said anything about killing me!" I bit out as I pulled the wood from his hands with all the strength I had and brought my foot up to push him back at the same time. A while back this move would have just sent my crashing down on my butt, but know it paid off; Edward moved back from me with the force of my kick and I was left standing, holding the plank of wood that had been clutched tightly in his iron grasp. Hell yeah. At least I had some sort of weapon now.

"I wasn't going to kill you Bella, I'd never do that. I was just gonna make this easier on you. Make you sleep until you were back with Charlie, I know how much you'd worry otherwise." Edward purred at me in his musical voice, bile rising in my throat. Bile and anger once more.

"You don't know shit about me Edward! Nothing anymore, you got that! I said I'd come, I'll fucking come!" I shouted, pissed as hell. He didn't know me anymore, the only people who did were Sam, Dean and Bobby. I'd changed beyond belief, a different person to whom I'd been when he'd known me. "And are you for real? Seriously? Make you sleep? You were gonna knock me the hell out. Not the same thing!" I was saying as I picked my way long the corridor. Turning my back on Edward and making the biggest mistake since... Well ever really, I had no excuses, I knew better.

Pain shot through my head and the world went black.

~0~

I came to, my head pounding and feeling woozy. What was happening, where was I? Why did I have a migraine?

I prised open my eyes and looked around, I was lying in a dark, dirty room, it looked like an abandoned mansion or something. One that had seen it's share of people breaking in and wrecking the place at that. Dirty faded purple curtains hung over boarded up windows, chip packets and soda bottles littered the wrecked wooden floor boards.

No-one seemed to be in the room with me so I battled with my furious headache and tried to get off the sofa I seemed to be lying on.

I couldn't move my arms or legs. I tried again with a groan, it was almost like I was tied down or something. I looked down at my arms, hoping if I willed them to enough they'd move, kinda like that scene in Kill Bill. Only that wasn't gonna work. I was tied down. My hands and legs were bound to my sides, not on a sofa as I'd thought but a cushioned stretcher, similar to ones that you found in a morgue. Shit!

"Glad to see you're awake Bella." A voice declared from the shadows. It seemed I wasn't alone after all.

Panic welled up in me, this was it, I was done for. I couldn't get out of this and no-one was coming to my rescue this time either. Panic bubbled so close to the surface that I almost screamed for help. Something that I knew, without a doubt wouldn't help.

I fought with myself, trying to calm down. I'd get out of this, of course I would, something would occur to me. Some plan of action that I couldn't see now. Why the hell was I panicking? That wasn't going to help anything. I knew this shit. It wasn't anything new to me.

My silent little pep talk helped to calm me down as the owner of the voice moved out of the shadows.

A young girl started approaching me, she couldn't have been more than fifteen with long brown hair and a serene smile spread across her innocent looking face. The sight gave me the creeps.

"I'm glad we could finally meet Bella, though I wish it wasn't in such unpleasant circumstances." The girl said to me, her voice a seductive drawl that didn't match her face.

"Eve." I stated, I didn't have any doubts who this was.

"That's right." She smiled at me, walking ever closer. Maybe my whole, I'm done for thing hadn't been so crazy after all?

"So you're the one that sent the Cullen's after me then?" I asked with a sigh, trying desperately to remember when my life had been normal, and failing dismally.

"That's right. Children have to obey their mother."

"Well, you're rocking the whole Mary look. Do you have my father here or was that a fake?" I asked, might as well find out if the reason I'd came was true or a big 'gotcha'.

"No, we have Charlie, I would never ask my children to lie. And I would never lie to you Bella." Eve smiled that creepy smile at me still. "Would you like to see him?"

"That would be great." I said, a plan, any plan would also be great. Maybe my dad had one?

"Can you bring in our other guest please Jasper." Eve said in a whisper over her shoulder and I noticed that one of the shadows move. Damn. That was gonna make things even more difficult.

"And bring back a burger while you're at! I'm hungry!" I shouted after Jasper with a smirk, now that he'd left so had the flutterings of panic. Well that explained a lot. I wondered why I hadn't had a full blown panic attack then?

"You're going to be fun." Eve told me her smile widening. I really didn't like the sound of that.

"I already am honey, just ask my friends." I quipped, remembering Deans advice from a life time ago; have fun on the job. Well I wasn't so sure this was fun, but I'd sure as hell try and make it so.

"I'm not sure that your friends are capable of answering any question at the moment." Eve smirked right back at me, an evil glint in her eyes. What did that mean? Was she messing with me? Or had Sam and Dean...? No. I'd know if they had, if they were, I'd feel it in my gut.

A noise like metal scraping against metal made me turn my head as far as my restrained body would let me.

Jasper was pushing something, a trolley? Why was he pushing a trolley, I thought he was bringing my dad to me?

As Jasper stepped out of the shadows into the light I gasped. It was my dad that he had brought to see me. He was strapped down to a bed like mine but on wheels, his face was broken and bleeding in places, one of his eyes half closed and puffy. But he was my dad, it really was him. I could tell, I could sense it. It was like coming home after a really brutal day.

"Daddy?" I asked, my voice coming out weak and child like, nothing as to what I'd been this last few months.

"Bella!" Charlie sounded just as choked up as I was. "Bella, you shouldn't have come. I'm not worth this.." Dad's voice was weak and his one good eye looked panicked as he looked me over.

"Of course you are." I whispered, wishing with everything that I could get up and give him a hug.

Fear started prickling my skin again, settling in and making me want to cry like a little bitch. But I wouldn't give in. "Cut it out!" I glared at Jasper. This was hard enough as it was without someone playing with my emotions.

"He can't. I asked him to do anything to make it easier for you to accept me, and a sons got to be obedient to his mother." Eve grinned at me before turning to face Jasper. "She's resisting you son?" She asked him.

Jasper gave me a pleading look before turning and facing his 'mother'. "Yes."

"How I wonder." Eve mused. "Do you have any ideas Jasper?" She asked.

"Yes." Jasper's voice was barely above a whisper and I realised he really didn't have a choice in this, she was doing something to him so that it was impossible for him but to answer her honestly. I felt a little bad for him, but more so for Charlie and myself. "Her tattoo." Oh crap. That couldn't be good.

"You got a tattoo?" Dad asked me his voice laced with disapproval.

"Is this really the time for that?" I asked him back with an eye roll.

"Suppose not kid." Dad sighed, his eyes taking me in again, looking for any other changes his original assessment had missed I assumed.

"Well, we can fix that. I'll be back." Eve said with a smile before leaving the room.

"Arnold wants his catchphrase back!" I called after her, really 'I'll be back'? How lame could you get?

"Bella." My dad said, his voice still full of emotion. "You've got to get out of here. You don't know what she wants to do with you."

"I would if I could, but I can't even move my hands, let alone pick four restraints and I'm so up on the whole vessel thing." I said with a sigh. "Where have you been dad? I've been looking for you for months. You just left me there." No time like the present to get into all the drama. And I was pretty sure they would be no time in the future if Eve had anything to do with it.

"I'm sorry Bella. I am. When I got to the hunt I was working on..." Charlie started saying his voice soft and full of remorse as was his one good eye.

"The satanists." I stated for him.

"You found out about that?" Charlie sounded a bit shocked at that, what did he think I'd been doing for the last few months? Hibernating? And he knew about Sam and Dean, right? Everyone else seemed to.

"Yeah, we stopped them, don't worry." I said hurriedly, wanting him to skip to the main plot and quick, before psycho barbie came back.

"We? Stopped them?" Again dad sounded way more shocked and worried than he should have been.

"Yeah, Sam, Dean and me. We caught them, and stopped them. Well Sam and Dean did, I just dropped to the floor while they shot. But dad, where were you. Where did you go to? We've been looking everywhere for you. I've even got Bobby, Ellen and Ash looking for you and we haven't heard a word. Didn't you realise I'd be worried. Hell forget worried, I was a mess. And then mom... Mom died and still you didn't come to me? What was that about? And dude I told you to stop! Lay off it!" The last bit was aimed at Jasper as fear and anger warmed my arms and legs as well as starting a pit of fire in my stomach.

"You've been hunting?" My dad asked half fearfully but also sounding like he had resigned himself to it. "John was suppose to make sure that you were ok, that you didn't find out about this and that you had money. He wasn't suppose to make you into a hunter, we had a deal!" Charlie had started getting angry himself now.

"Dad. John's dead, apparently it happened a couple of years ago. Dean and Sam came when I rang John's mobile. They didn't know about any deal. So now that's one mystery solved, where have you been?" I asked, getting frustrated, this had to be the longest conversation Charlie and me had ever had and he still hadn't answered my questions.

"Sorry to interrupt your little reunion Bella, but we've got things to do ourselves. A little girl time to have." Eve said as she walked back into the room, her face stretched into an even wider grin than before, she pushed a trolley that was covered with a sheet. Every squeak the old rusty thing gave as it came closer made my heart pound slightly harder. I was pretty sure I knew what was under the sheet, and I was really sure that I didn't want them any where near me.

The trolley stopped next to me and Eve whipped off the sheet covering it. Yup, those were torture implements that were on the trolley.

"First let's start with that pesky tattoo shall we?" Eve smiled at me and picked up a wicked sharp looking knife. I swallowed, the fear I felt my own now.

"No!" Charlie screamed, his throat sounding like it tore with the force.

"Don't make him watch this. Please." I asked Eve, my voice calm even though my heart was beating so fast and hard I was surprised that it wasn't visible through my shirt.

Eve considered me for a minute, one finger trailing leasurly along the sharp looking knife. "Ok, I'll grant you this one request Bella. Remove him." Eve told the room where I knew at least Jasper was hiding.

"No! No! Bella!" Charlie's howls were audible even as Jasper removed him from the room. I knew it must be terrible for him not to know what was going on in here. But I would have been worse for him to watch. Cause I was pretty damn sure this wasn't going to be pretty.

"Right, let's get started shall we?" Eve smiled at me.

**What did you think? Did you like? Poor Bella, her luck can't get any worse, can it? The next chapter will be out in a couple of days. Leave me a review and tell me what you think :) Love always Tametiger xx**


	25. Chapter 25

So here it is the next chapter as promised, I hope you all enjoy it. As aways I own nothing :)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Tortured

I screamed again; I wanted it to stop now. I wanted the pain to go away. All I had to do was say yes. But I knew there was a reason I shouldn't, knew something, somewhere would tell me to carry on saying no. But I could barely remember my own name through the burning pain and the overwhelming fear. I just wanted it to stop.

"You want it to stop Bella?" A kind voice asked me, I lifted my tired and sore head to look, but all I could see was a blurry image.

I whimpered in response, my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth.

"All you've got to do is say yes honey and the pain will all go away." The voice broke through my agony. That and she'd stopped cutting into me for a minute.

"Eve...?" I asked my voice coming out in a pained whisper.

"That's right, just say yes Bella." She coaxed me once more.

"Screw yourself!" I groaned, meaning it to come out harsh and angry, but I just didn't have the energy. Something hard smashed into my already beaten face, making blood well in my mouth. I spat it out to the side of me.

"I'm going to leave you for a little while Bella. Rest, and when you're feeling a little better we'll start again shall we?" Eve said, her voice leaving me slowly.

I ached, every part of me hurt. Blood flowed from wounds, bruises formed and teeth were jagged. But through the pain, and the fear I'd still said no, I'd not given in yet. Dad, Sam and Dean would be proud of me if they knew.

My heart hurt as I thought of Dean. I'd only just got him back. He'd admitted he loved me, I'd told him how I felt and now he was gone again. I was here being tortured and he was trying to save the world. It sucked. It sucked that I couldn't just catch a break, that I couldn't just spend some time with the man I loved before the world went to crap in a basket. But hey, at least I'd die knowing I'd told him how I felt.

Thoughts of Dean started comforting me. Sure every part of me hurt, so bad that I was almost begging for death. But it didn't hurt as much as it had when Dean left me. No-where near as bad. Small mercy, but I'd take what I had right now.

Something started making a noise in the corner of the room. My bleeding ears struggled to make out what it was. A song. 'Tainted Love' by Marlin Manson, my ring tone. My ring tone! Yes! That meant my phone was in the room! I could call for help if I could... Dismay tore through me. I couldn't get to my phone, hell even if I'd have been able to break out of my restraints I sure as hell wouldn't make it all the way across the floor to my cell. Not on two broken legs. And they were broken, I'd heard the snaps. Damn it! Now I was officially pissed!

So much anger at my predicament and the fact that I was weak and unable to help myself washed through me that even Jasper's attempts to manipulate my emotions just rolled off me. Something that since they'd ripped my tattoo off me I'd found impossible to resist. And yes, they'd ripped it off, skin and all.

Right, I was fed up with this damsel in distress bullshit and this pity party that I'd been throwing myself. I was not the same fucked up, helpless little girl I'd been, I could get through this! No matter what they threw at me!

Okay, all I had to do was remain calm and think. I looked at my restraints, they were blurry through my now messed up eyes, but I could see them. My blood had run over them, turning them a rusted brown, red colour. My blood! Yes!

My wrists were slippery with my blood and so were the restraints. If I could just... I started moving my wrists slowly up and down in their binds. They gave a little. Not much but enough to fire up a bit of hope in me.

I carried on moving my wrists, ignoring the burning pain as the tender skin there started tearing on the tough leather. But they were giving! I didn't think past getting my hands out of the damn things. I didn't worry about the fact that even if I was out of them then escape would still be impossible or near as dammit anyway. I didn't think of the fact that I was guarded by vampires and the mother of every evil thing we'd ever faced. All I could think of was getting free, everything would fall into place if I could get free.

I was spurred on as my phone started ringing again. Someone was looking for me. Someone would be able to help or send help, as long as I could get to tell them to send the rescue party.

I started crying for the first time through this whole ordeal as one hand slipped free, taking a decent chunk of flesh with it. It hurt my wrecked face to cry, it stung my wounds and hurt my already sensitive eyes. But I couldn't stop the flow, the relief I felt was unlike anything I'd ever felt before. Relief at being able to help myself. To be fighting back, however meger that was.

With a shaking and painful hand I clumsily untied my other one before reaching for my feet. As all my injuries were moved I had to literally bite my lip to stop from screaming in agony. The pain was so intense that I wondered why I hadn't passed out. Surely no-one could experience this much pain with out dying from it?

After a massive effort I was free! My legs, my arms were free, no longer chained to this torture table. I now had the problem of getting down from it without causing myself any more injuries and then dragging myself twenty meters or so to my phone. But I was determined, if I had gone through the rest of it and lived then I sure as hell could do this!

I shifted my body to the edge of the table, holding back a scream as broken and bruised body parts were dragged painfully by my own arms.

At the edge of the table, a mere three inches from where I'd started I had to take a breather. Breathing was hurting, blinking was agony and moving was the worse pain I'd ever experienced but I was closer.

I looked down to the floor, it was only a legs length down, but it might as well have been three stories. How did I tackle this? Which ever way I did it, it was gonna hurt like a bitch.

I gritted my jaw in determination and bit down hard on my tongue, it was going to be next to impossible not to scream. With a massive will of effort I used my hands to push myself of the table.

The shock of landing on the floor was worse than I could've imagined. Despite my will power and my metal coaching I couldn't help but give a roar of pain, it was muffled as I placed my hands over my mouth, but still it sounded like an alarm going off inside my own head.

I laid still on the floor, tears flowing freely down my face, black creeping into my vision slightly as the pain flared bright hot. I waited for someone to come and check on me, someone must have heard my outburst.

After five minutes of laying still, I dared to move. I dragged myself with my arms, the effort it took was unbearable, my head struggled to support itself as energy started failing me fast. I'd moved just one of the twenty meters I needed to.

~0~

It felt like hours later, sobbing audibly, shaking and sweating that I reached my phone, which had gone off seven more times since I started my journey.

I rolled myself onto my side and picked up the small little box in my hand. I could barely make out the screen, let alone the buttons, but I'd been using this phone for six months now. Instinctively I knew what was where and how to use it.

I pressed call on the last missed call. I didn't care who answered as long as they could help me.

The line rang and rang, "c'mon, c'mon pick up!" I whispered to the phone, tears still flowing down my face.

"Yeah?" A gruff voice answered.

I sobbed, sobbed so hard that I could barely breath, but I had to get it together. This was my one chance. "Help!" I managed to stutter out. "Help... Please... Bobby!" My mouth was dry, my sobs muffling my voice and the effort of lifting the phone was starting to become too much for me.

"Bella!?" Bobby shouted to me, his voice full of panic and relief at the same time.

"Help me." I begged as the black that I'd been fighting to get here started closing in on me.

Bobby started talking to me, but fatigue was taking over, and the blackness was heavier this time. I caught three words. "GPS... On... Track." That was all before I couldn't fight any longer. I slipped into a deep painful sleep.

~0~

I was woken by pain, by my own scream as I was kicked in my already broken ribs.

"You've been a very bad girl!" A voice hissed in my ear as I was dragged back towards the torture table by my hair.

"Sorry." I muttered, wanting it to come out sarcastic buggt all I managed was a pitiful whine.

"Not yet you aren't Bella but you will be. Why not save yourself the pain and just say yes sugar?" The voice said as I was thrown back onto the table.

"No... No... Please no..." I begged as my arms and legs were forced back to the restraints, the pain making the blackness sweep in again. I tried to reach for it, the blackness took the edge off, the pain didn't hurt so bad then. If I could just reach it, let it take me over again then I could survive this. There was a reason I only had to hold on a little longer, but I couldn't remember what it was. A little longer, that was all.

A sharp stabbing pain was in my arm, making the blackness go away a little bit, before warm started radiating in me.

"There you are. A little caffeine solution, and another ingredient or two. You won't be sleeping for a while Bella. I want you awake for our girl time, I so enjoy it, don't you?" Eve said to me as my eyes widened, my vision returning and my heart beginning to race in my chest. My mind sped up to work as well. Whatever the mixture was that she'd given me, it worked. I was wide awake.

"Oh yeah, I'm just loving the bonding going on here. But I'm having all the fun, that doesn't seem fair. Maybe you should give it a go?" I asked, a sardonic smile flitting across my face.

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly take this away from you Bella." Eve said with a smile. "Did you manage to ring for help?"

"No, I passed out before I could ring. But if you'd bring my phone over here I'll give it another ago." I sassed Eve, lying my head off and hoping she'd believe me.

"And stop our fun together? I couldn't possibly." Eve grinned at me.

"Ah well, worth a try." I said with a smile.

"Now, I've got to stop you doing that again haven't I Bella?" Eve smiled, while going to her tray of instruments. My heart sped up even faster as she came back with a blood soaked hammer. "I think one arm will do, and I'll even let you choose which. Of course you can always say yes?"

"Not a chance. And the left arm please, I'm right handed." I said, trying for nonchalant but tears had already started forming in my eyes in anticipation of what was coming next.

"As you wish." She smiled wider before turning her head to something behind her in the shadows. "Emmett be a dear and fetch Charlie for me will you son. He's missing the show."

I gasped. "No, don't make him watch this! Please!" I begged. This would destroy him.

"Then just say yes and he won't have to." Eve smiled at me once more. A smile I now loathed, one that I would gladly tear off with my bare hands, if only I could move them.

"No." I whispered, not sure if I was doing the right thing now. But if Eve had me, her true vessel, then surely things wouldn't be good for humanity? "Hey Eve? What would change? I mean why do you need me as a vessel, you've already got one and that ones all sweet and innocent looking. Pure if you don't mind me saying so."

"My powers are limited in this girl, but with you they would be unstoppable. In this body I can control my children, but in yours I could make them slaves and I could create more. The world will be ours as it was meant to be." Eve smiled angelicly at me. "And you were so close to ruining it for me as well."

"How?" I asked confused, wanting to keep the conversation going, and also if I had almost ended her plans I wanted to know how.

"Dean." Huh Dean? "If you two had..."

Okay I got it now. "Played hide the taco?" I suggested with a smirk.

"Crudely put but yes. If you two had gone all the way, you'd be useless as my vessel, I can only be in one still pure. But we're lucky Bella." Strange, cause I didn't feel so lucky right now. "We had some of my children at hand. Edward was able to see when Dean was about to... And then one of my other children would plant a suggestion in the minds of one of your friends to interrupt you. So, as you see. Very lucky." Well that explained a hell of a lot.

"Yeah, lucky for you perhaps, but not so much for me. And poor Dean." I said with a forced smile. I needed to keep her talking, the more she talked the longer I went without pain.

"He'll get over it." Eve said with a wave of her hand. "He's already tainted with the bodies of others, an act that god himself deemed only right if one of your kind was married, isn't that so? So if you see it that way, then I actually saved your soul Bella, you should be grateful to me." Yeah about as grateful as I was for smallpox covered blankets.

"Times have changed." I muttered.

"But has God changed with those times?" Eve smirked at me. "He certainly seems to have given up on humanity, maybe he wouldn't care? Still why take the chance?"

"I'm a risk taker." I snapped back as I heard the squeaking sound that heralded Charlie's return.

"You shouldn't be. Life's too short. Or your lives are anyway. If you say yes, you'll live inside me forever Bella. And who doesn't want that?"

"Er... Me!" I replied, I had once upon a time but not anymore, not since I'd seen what it cost, not since I'd found real life and started living it.

"Bella...?" Charlie's voice tore my attention away from my captor. His face was creased in pain as he looked over my broken and battered body.

"Hey dad." I smiled at him, wanting to reassure him that I was okay, or at least as okay as I could be.

"Now we can start again!" Eve said, sounding like the child she was possessing.

"No! Get the hell away from my daughter!" Dad screamed at Eve.

"I won't leave her, not until she says yes." Eve smirked before raising the bloodied hammer.

"Don't look dad." I begged before it was brought down with force onto my right arm. Bitch. "Ahhhhhh!" I couldn't stop the scream that escaped me as the hammer snapped my bone sickenly in my arms.

"Bella! Bella!" Dad screamed as well, his voice choked as tears swarmed down both our faces.

"Say yes Bella." Eve whispered in my ear.

"No." I spat out.

"Just say yes honey." Charlie said from his own restraints, his eyes glassy and his words mechanic. Something was making him do this.

"What?" I asked, gasping, my voice pained and quivering.

"Say yes, then it'll all go away. You don't want it to hurt anymore do you sweetheart?" His words were still coming out in a monotone.

"Whatever you're doing stop it." I hissed at Eve, exhausted but wired at the same time.

She opened her mouth to answer me but was cut off as a huge bang shook the already delicate building. Dust rained down from the dilapidated ceiling and landed on my face. Eww.

"What was that?" Eve asked sharply before moving towards the door. "Come." She said to Emmett and someone else in the thick shadows. Together the three of them left the room to investigate.

"Bella... Are you ok?" Charlie asked me in his normal voice, the second thing that left with Eve had obviously been what was controlling him. My guess was another vampire, but I didn't know for sure and it didn't really matter right now.

"I'll live." I said, trying desperately to mask the pain that I felt burning so fiercely under my skin.

"Bells, whatever you do, carry on saying no. You're doing brilliantly. I'm so proud of you." Charlie said, his voice full of the tears he was shedding.

Something moved into the room. Silently it kept to the shadows. They kept to the shadows. There were two of them. The hairs on my arms started rising, what was this new thing that we'd have to face? This other obstacle we'd have to overcome if we were ever to get out of here.

The two figures crept out of the shadows and started jogging towards my father and me.

"B... Sweetheart!" Dean whispered as he got to my side. "What have they done to you?" He asked me gently, his voice breaking with pain as he looked me over, his beautiful green brown eyes held pain as he looked at my battered body.

"I'm okay. Get my dad out." I said, tears falling as I looked over the love of my life. He was okay, not a scratch on him to my utter relief. And he was here to rescue me! He really was my knife in white shining armour right now.

"Sam'll get Charlie. I've got you sweetheart." Dean said as he gently started undoing my restraints.

"I love you!" I gasped through the pain as he faltered over my broken legs. I needed to say that, needed him to hear it. It was my main reason for getting free, so I could tell him how he made me feel just one more time.

"I love you too B. C'mon sweetheart I'm gonna get you out of here. I'm sorry this is gonna hurt baby girl." Dean warned me, his eyes clouded with pain and remorse. "I'm sorry." He whispered to me as he gently lifted me from the table.

I gasped with agony, I couldn't help it, but I stopped myself from screaming as I was carried quickly from the room where I'd been so brutally tortured. Carried away in Deans strong arms.

"Put your arm round my neck B." Dean whispered into my ear.

I tried moving so my left arm, the one furthest from Deans body could loop around his neck, giving me a better feeling of security. I groaned in pain. I couldn't do it, it crushed my damaged arm and my broken ribs. It hurt too much.

"I can't." I whispered, defeated. "She broke my other arm, and it hurts. I'm sorry, I can't." My words were coming faster as my heart sped up even more. What the hell had been mixed with that caffeine?

"It's ok. I'll deal." Dean said back with a tight smile. He was hurting, whether from my weight or something else I couldn't tell.

"Put me down D, come back with Sammy when dad's out of here." I whispered as we entered a long hallway, a chink of natural light visible at the end. It was the most beautiful thing I think I've ever seen. It was freedom.

"No-way in hell B. What you think I can't carry a little girl like you?" Dean smirked at me.

"I'm not a little girl, and by the way you're looking I'm guessing I'm not such a little weight." I rolled my eyes at him.

"No. No you're defiantly not a little girl." Deans eyebrows raised suggestivley. "And I promise you ggsweetheart, you are not that heavy."

"Whatever." I smiled up at Dean, happy that I was in his arms. That I wasn't going to have to go through anymore pain. I knew I shouldn't rely on anyone else for my safety, but I trusted Dean with everything. He'd earned it time and time again, always having my back, even when it put his own in danger, even when it got him hurt.

We reached the chink of light, some rotten boards that had been prised apart to reveal the sunshine outside.

"Dean!" Sam called his head poking through the wall.

"We're here, get the car started!" Dean called back, his voice strained. Yeah, I wasn't heavy my ass.

"Pass her here." Sam's hands reached through the gap for me, his voice worried and frantic.

"I've got B, get the car started, we gotta get out of here quik!" Dean said back as he held me tighter to his huge chest.

"Charlie's got the car ready." Sam said, his hands moving so that Dean could climb through with me.

We emerged in the sun, which burnt my over sensitive eyes, weeds knee high surrounded the dilapidated house, and the Impala stood twenty feet away.

Together Sam and Dean ran at a crouch, which must have killed Dean burdened as he was by my weight, to the car.

"Gun it!" Dean shouted as him and me were safely in the back seat and Sammy had dived into the passenger seat.

Charlie stamped on the gas peddle making the car squeal as we peeled out of the weed riddled garden onto the dirt path which led from the house.

We were silent until we reached the tarmac road, all our breathing loud as the danger passed meter by meter.

"We need to get to the nearest hospital." Sam was the first to break the silence, his order directed at my dad who was furiously driving away, not slowing down for anything. How he could see properly through his busted and swollen eye I had no idea but I was glad that he could.

"No." Dad told him back, his voice quiet and focused.

"Charlie, I don't know if you've noticed but your daughter needs medical attention. Now." Deans voice was a low growl as he held me still in his arms. One of his hands gently stroked my unbroken arm sending waves of desire and love through my body.

"We can't go to a hospital." Charlie repeated himself. "They'll find us there, we need to find somewhere safe and fix her up there."

"No offence, I love you guys and all, but I'm not so sure that you can mend broken bones without a doctor." I said my voice loud and still fast. "And they pumped some shit into my veins, I'm thinking that maybe we should make sure that isn't some poison or something that will turn me into one of her freaks."

"Where?" Dean growled, his voice low and dangerous.

"Back at the mansion." I replied confused, where else.

"Where did they stick you with the needle B?" Dean growled sounding exasperated.

"Right arm middle top, the fleshy part." I rattled out.

Dean moved me slightly, trying to not jolt me too much, but enough so that he could see my right arm. "It's not poison." Dean stated sounding releaved.

"How do you know? You got a medical degree that I don't know anything about?" I asked Dean with a raise of my eyebrows.

"No, most common poisons show around the area of infection. I can't see anything, I'm pretty sure you're good B." Dean told me softly, his eyes staring into my own, sadness and love all held within his amazing green eyes.

"So if we can't go to a hospital where do we go? Bella needs a doctor." Sam said, his voice insistent as he spoke to Charlie, I noticed that he avoided looking and talking to me and Dean whenever possible. What was up with that? Was he still evil? What had happened with Lucifer? I thought that we had a lot to talk about as soon as we were somewhere safe.

"We get her somewhere safe and then I know a woman, she's a hunter but she started out being a nurse. She'll know what to do." Charlie said, his eyes not leaving the road.

"Then get us to Bobby's." Dean said. "There's nowhere safer and the old man's been doing his nut in looking for B." Warmth flowed through me at his words, Bobby had been worried about me? He'd sent Sam and Dean, that I knew, but I hadn't known he'd been worried. My affection levels for the man doubled.

"Bobby?" Charlie asked confused for a second before his expression cleared a bit. "Bobby Singer? You know him?"

"Bobby's like our adopted dad, we've known him forever." Sam said his voice low and sad, his face miserable in the rear-view mirror. I didn't know how I was feeling about Sam right now, after all he'd left me for dead and might have raised Lucifer himself, but I hated to see him so sad.

"You've met him too Bells?" Charlie asked me in a soft voice, his eyes still not leaving the road, I had a feeling that he was desperately trying not to look at me for some reason.

"Yeah, Bobby helped to train me. He's a good man, and he says good things about you dad. Miserable igit though." I smirked, my words still coming fast.

"Bobby it is then. Where do I need to go?" Charlie asked, his voice low and focused.

"We're about three hours away." Dean said, while stripping himself of his shirt trying not to move me at all while he did. Once he was just in his wife beater he started mopping up some of my blood, his eyes soft and pained as I whimpered as he touched the worst of my injuries.

"We'll be there soon sweetheart, don't worry." He whispered to me as Charlie stomped his foot down harder on the gas, speeding for the first time in my life. His eyes flashing with something, anger I thought, as he looked into the back seat for the first time since we'd been in the car. I didn't think things were gonna be all happy families now we were back together somehow.

* * *

So... What do you think Charlie's problem is? who is he mad at and why? and how will Dean handle Bella being tortured? I'd love to hear what you all think :) until next time Love always Tametiger x


	26. Chapter 26

Hey everyone! So here's the next chapter. I've gone and got a beta, the wonderful geek. so I want to say a massive thank you to her for proof reading this and correcting my mistakes which I pretty sure were numerous.

As always I own nothing.

Enjoy :)

Chapter Twenty Six

Not So Happily Ever After

It took us two hours to reach Bobby's and the tension the whole way there rose perceptively to the point where it was almost painful to just be laid in Deans arms.

Sam was getting more and more miserable, Dad was getting angrier if his driving was anything to go by, I was getting more wired and Dean just looked sadder with every new injury he tried to take care of.

"Hey sweetheart, look at me will ya?" Dean asked with a frown after he'd been studying my puncture mark from the needle again.

"Yeah, sure, of course. What's up?" I asked, feeling like I was itchy from the inside, my pain had subsided and all I wanted to do was move, I was fed up of lying still, I'd been still for too long. Only Deans strong hands kept me still.

"Oh, B." Dean sighed at me.

"What's wrong D? Please don't be sad, I'm fine, it's stopped hurting as much. I'm good." I smiled wanting to lift my hands and stroke his face but his hands were restraints that I felt I didn't need anymore.

"I know you're not hurting sweetheart. You're high." Dean said to me.

"No, I'm not. I haven't been high since..." I glanced at my father, maybe admitting that I'd been high with the brothers wouldn't make any of this any easier. "I haven't ever been high. Say no to drugs and all of that." I just couldn't stop talking, everything seemed to speed up, my actions, my talking. Everything around me was in slow motion.

Dean frowned. "B, believe me, you're high."

"No, I'm not. Eve said she'd given me caffeine to keep me awake, that must be what it is." I argued confidently, surely I'd know if I was high. When I'd taken drugs before I'd just gotten really happy and a bit sleepy. The last thing I felt right now was sleepy.

"Well I think she's slipped some coke in there as well sweetheart, you're flying." Dean told me.

My heart sped up and I started to worry. Coke? Cocaine was bad, really bad. People had died from it, hadn't they?

"Hey, come on sweetheart, you'll be fine. I promise. Just need you to relax a bit and keep talking, drink as well. Don't worry I'll look out for ya." Dean's calm and soothing deep voice helped to relax me. He was right, I'd be fine. Dean wouldn't let me be hurt, he'd take care of me. And honestly, there aren't many people I'd trust to look after me when I'd been poisoned by an over dose of drugs, but Dean had a lot of experience in this area. Sam had as well, so I was in the right place with the right people.

"She's been drugged?" My dad growled out as he pulled into the scrap yard where Bobby lived.

"She'll be fine Charlie. We'll look after her." Sam soothed with the voice that always put victims that we dealt with at ease. But Charlie wasn't a victim, and he wouldn't ever be one if he could help it. I knew that much about my father.

"You two will take care of her? Is that right?" Dad muttered but didn't say anything else as he drove the twisting driveway that led to Bobby's large house.

As we pulled up outside of the house, the porch door opened with a slam and Bobby came out from the house, his face sombre and worried.

Sam got out and opened the back door for Dean and me. Charlie just sat watching the commotion, his eyes never once trying to find me. I tried to ignore the sting that caused.

"Bella?!" Bobby called as Dean carefully lifted me out of the car in his arms once again. "Shit! Dean get her inside now! Sam call nine, one, one. Why didn't you fools take her to the hospital? She not beaten up enough for you!?" Bobby shouted furiously. "How you doing girl? How bad does it hurt?" His tone softened as he spoke to me.

"It's not too bad thanks Bobby. I'm holding up okay, it's not their fault they didn't take me to the hospital, Dad didn't want me to go. How are you, you okay? Thanks for sending me help. I'd have been worse if ya didn't." I rushed out, glad to see the old man.

"She's higher than a Ozzy fan at his concert! What did you give her boy?!" Bobby growled at Dean as he carried me gently up the stairs to the main house.

"Nothing, Eve gave her a little something to make sure she was awake through everything." Dean said, his own voice matching Bobby's tone, his body tensing under mine. He was furious, and he'd been trying to stop it from showing, but here in this house that was his home he let it all go.

"Dammit!" Bobby groaned. "Here get her on the couch son." Dean blinked at Bobby's choice of word before nodding and placing me carefully on the old, sagging but comfy sofa. He was careful but still it caused all my injuries to make their presence known even through the drugs coursing through my system. I let out a scream, unable to stop myself, but everything hurt. Every part of me was in agony.

"Sam! Have you called a damn ambulance yet boy?" Bobby shouted at Sam, his voice loud over my whimpering. My screams had subsided.

Sam didn't have a chance to answer though, my dad answered for him. "I've got a friend on the way, she'll take care of Bella. You take her to a hospital, they'll find her quicker than you could find her again." Charlie said, his voice low, his shoulders tensed and a nerve in his jaw was working over time. Dad was beyond pissed, I just didn't know why and with whom.

"Charlie?" Bobby asked, looking relieved but also a bit wary.

"Bobby." Dad nodded once at the older hunter, his face still a mask of displeasure though. I couldn't figure out why. Bobby and my Dad were friends, right? Or close anyway.

"Bobby can you get me the first aid kit, B's lost enough blood. I wanna get some of those worse cuts stitched." Dean said, kneeling on the floor next to me and eyeing the cuts on my face which I could still feel bleeding. I hoped he didn't get to take my shirt off, because the damage there would hurt Dean even further. I could feel blood on my chest flowing even thicker and faster than on my face, and that had cause Dean enough pain.

"No. Wait for the nurse to get here." My dad said, his arms crossed as he watched Dean and me from the doorway.

"How long's she gonna be dude, cause Bella really can't lose anymore blood." Dean didn't even look at Charlie, just moved hair off of my face and gently stroked my head where there were no injuries.

"She'll be a couple of hours yet. But I really don't think you should be doing any first aid on my daughter." Dad's voice could have frozen hell over itself, it was that cold.

I loved and respected my dad as much as I could given recent events, but I wasn't going to stand for him speaking to any of the men like that. They'd done nothing but look out for me and take care of me, well most of the time anyway. I opened my mouth to defend Dean but he got there first. "Who d'ya think's been fixing her up while you've been away Charlie? And my stitching's just fine, I'm even thinking of taking up embroidery." Dean tried to joke.

"Not on my face you aren't. I don't wanna look like a patch work quilt gone wrong thanks. It's bad enough I'm gonna look like Frankenstein's monster." I teased, smiling at Dean even though it hurt.

"I don't care who's been doing what. But now I'm here and I don't want Bella being touched by anyone who's not qualified." Dad insisted.

"Then let us take her to a damn hospital! That's what we wanted to do anyway! I'll make sure nothing gets her, I won't leave her side." Dean snapped back, his head whipping away from me to face Charlie.

"Like hell you won't! She's my daughter and I'll say what's best for her!" Dad was starting to raise his voice now, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.

"So you're wanting to play the doting father now? Where the hell have you been for the last seven months Charlie? Nowhere! So whose been taking care of your daughter? Sam, Bobby and me! That's who! And I'll be damned if I stop now just cause you tell me too. Bobby where the hell is that first aid kit!" Deans voice rose in reply to my fathers and his breathing was harder. His anger was at an all time high now. It was strange having this conversation for what felt like the second time, after shifter Charlie, but now I've got my real dad's actions and responses, instead of some impostor's.

"I didn't ask you to did I?! John and I had a deal! He was suppose to protect her from all this if I couldn't! He was to make sure she stayed safe and had some money, that was it! How the hell was I to know that your daddy wasn't gonna be around, and that you two morons would actually take her with you!?

Yeah, I haven't been there, I've been a shit father! And I did it to hunt down the bitch who was hunting my baby down. I got fucking stuck being tortured in some dive with her and couldn't get to my daughter. The one I thought was at home safe and sound!

You might have been looking after her, but she's still my responsibility! She's still my kid! And she will be taken care of like I want her to! I'm not having another one of her loser boyfriends thinking he knows what's best for her! I do! Got that? And you have no fucking right telling me that I don't. No fucking right taking her!" Charlie was basically screaming now. But Dean wasn't to be out done.

Dean stood up and moved so that he was still stood next to me. "I had no fucking right?! You've got to be kidding me! What you wanted us to leave Bella there, all alone? With the vampire boyfriend who tried to rape her? Or the demons that attacked her?

And then when we tried to find you, you wanted us to just leave her clueless, unprotected? Hell no! We did what we did for the best Charlie. And you should see that. Hell, if nothing was going on between B and me you would think I'd done the best I fucking could in the circumstances! Put your prejudice aside for a minute and see that!" Deans voice hadn't risen in response. His voice was even, under control, but I knew him and I could hear just how much loathing he had for Charlie under the surface.

"Stop it!" I called out as dad opened his mouth once more. "You're both talking about me like I'm not even here!"

"Bella..." My dad started saying but I cut over him.

"No listen to me for a minute please! Sam, Dean and Bobby have been looking out for me for months now. They all tried talking me out of being a hunter but I wouldn't take no for an answer. So they did what I asked them to do, what I wanted them to do. None of this is their fault, none of it. If you have to blame someone then blame me, but right now let's just leave it 'kay?" I took a deep breath before facing Dean. "If I need stitching then stitch me. But do not mess up my pretty face." I smirked.

"First aid kit's in the desk drawer Dean." Bobby muttered with a frown etched into his face. "Charlie, we need to sort you out as well, let's go in the kitchen. I've got another kit in there and some drinks too." Charlie glared at Bobby before looking at me and sighing, he nodded to Bobby and followed him into the kitchen.

~0~

Charlie's P.O.V.

I sat down in Bobby's kitchen. It was small and messy, but it was still clean and functional. As well as that I could see some homely touches, and some bits that just screamed that they'd been done by Bella.

"Here, drink that before I start playing surgeon, I don't want you passing out on me do I?" Bobby put a beer down on the tiny table in front of me from the fridge. I sighed but opened it and savoured the feel of the liquor travelling down my dry throat and warming my stomach.

"You wanna talk about it?" Bobby asked me as he sat opposite me with his own beer. The years hadn't been kind to Bobby; he'd put on some pounds since I'd last seen him, his muscle slowly turning to fat and he had more lines than a man his age had any right having.

I sighed again, no, I really didn't want to talk about it. What was there to talk about? The fact that these men had turned my little girl into a hunter? That she'd changed so much in seven months that I barely recognised her? Or that I was angry and upset to find that I was losing her, if I hadn't lost her already.

"They really have been looking out for her Charlie, not that she needs it much. You raised one hell of a girl there." Bobby told me what I already knew.

I nodded. "You should've seen the way she kept her head back there, she just kept on saying no, didn't matter what they threw at her." I said, the pride I felt obvious in my voice.

"Wouldn't have expected anything else. She's a tough nut." Bobby agreed with a soft smile. It was plain to see that he cared for Bells almost as much as I did. But that still didn't make it okay.

"She is, she's always been. But she's also still just a kid Bobby and she isn't cut out for this." I protested, this wasn't her life, and it shouldn't ever be her life. Bells was made for other things, for better things than the pain and heartache that this life always led to. She was already tougher than I could take, hardened from just months of this. Any longer and she wouldn't be the sweet, kind, even tempered Bella that I'd raised. She'd be a world wary hunter, and although I was relieved that she could take care of herself I didn't want that for her. Hell what parent would? Even John hadn't wanted that for his kids, he'd just had no other choice, that's why he'd made the deal with me, or part of the reason why anyway.

"She ain't a kid anymore Charlie, you saw that today. She's a twenty year old woman now. And as for ain't cut out for this life? She could rival you now, old man. She's a natural and she enjoys it. Before you lay down the law, talk to her. I'm not trying to tell you how to parent. I mean hell, how would I know? But I don't wanna see you two mad at each other, you're family. And family should stick together.

But Charlie you should also know, she's family to those boys now, and to me. We ain't gonna see her go without a fight of our own. Just think on it." Bobby finished his speech and downed his beer before fetching another first aid kit from under the sink. Silence surrounding us, obviously to let me think about what had just been said.

~0~

B.P.O.V.

"Sam hold her." Dean ordered his little brother, after he'd fetched the first aid kit and finished threading the needle with a thick black thread.

"I can hold still while you sew me back up D, I've done it before." I told the beautiful hunter with an eye roll.

"Sweetheart, I can't give you anything to make this any easier, you've got more crap in your system than the drummer from Metallica. And if you move then you'll mess up my handy work." Dean told me with an attempt at a smirk, but I could see that he really didn't want to do this without any anaesthetic.

"Hey, I managed to go through all of this without anything. I'll be fine." I smiled at my hunter, feeling releaved as my heart, although still beating fast, had slowed down from it's original manic tempo.

"Still, I'd feel better if you were restrained." Dean frowned at Sam who hadn't moved from Bobby's desk, he was still refusing to look or talk to either of us.

"Kinky." I replied to Dean, smiling as I watched his face go thoughtful for a second.

"When you're better sweetheart." Dean whispered to me with hope in his eyes.

"The sooner the better D, that's the only reason Eve still wants me." I said, thinking that there were defiantly worse ways to get an evil, soul sucking bitch off your case.

"Huh?" Dean asked me with a frown as he came and knelt by my side. Sam finally got off the desk and came to kneel by me as well. Still refusing to look at either of us though, his hands must have been really damn interesting.

"She can't use me if I'm not still 'pure'." I explained to Dean while raising my eyebrows so he got what I meant.

"Son of a bitch, if I'd have know that..." Dean muttered looking frustrated and a bit angry, as well as the smallest bit lustful.

"Well you do now." I smirked at him.

"When your better baby girl." Dean smiled at me, his eyes soft and making my stomach pool with warmth. He really had to be the sexiest man on the planet. But something was hidden behind his eyes, some emotion or thought that he didn't want me to see. That was Dean, always holding something back, never putting it all out there, even with me. He was honest, and he'd talk to me, open up partly to me, but he'd never give it all up. He always held something back for himself.

"So how did it go?" I asked as Dean nudged Sam. Sam sat up and gently placed his hands on uninjured parts of me so that I couldn't move and Dean started stitching me, slowly and carefully, his face full of concentration, which I was very glad of.

"How did what go sweetheart?" Dean asked, burning pain travelling down my face and making me wince. This was a hell of a lot worse when you weren't drunk.

"Lucifer." I stated, one word that made both Winchesters flinch. "That bad?"

"We were too late." Dean muttered, his face closing down on me and becoming a hard mask that he hadn't used with me since we'd been reunited.

"It was my fault. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Sam said, his voice sincere and broken.

"Save it Sam." Dean replied, defeat and betrayal clear on his face. "Not the time." Sam just nodded and went back to staring at his hands. He looked heartbroken and sick with himself.

I knew that feeling and I knew that look, it sucked. It felt like nothing was ever gonna be right again, like you were the biggest burden in the world and that you were the biggest screw up. The only difference was Sam had a point. The guy had just released Lucifer on the world. Like we didn't have enough to be worried about, now we were gonna have to face the devil himself.

"So, Lucifer. That's a new one." I said trying my hardest to keep still as I spoke but the stitches were really starting to sting now.

"I think we need to take care of Eve first. Painfully." Dean muttered his face dark and his eyes burning with fury.

"Only problem with that one is, we don't know how and she's got the whole supernatural army thing going for her." I replied, flinching as Dean started stitching up my cheek this time.

"Hold still sweetheart, I'm almost finished." Dean muttered before addressing my issue with hunting down Eve and killing her. "We will find a way. I promise you. And it will be slow and painful and we'll drag it out."

"As long as I get to watch." I replied angrily, a lot of the problems I'd faced over the past few months had been down to that bitch. And being tortured was just the icing on the cake. I wanted to watch her suffer, a side of me that I hadn't thought I'd possessed.

"Ring side seats." Dean promised before placing a gentle kiss on my burning face. "All done sweetheart." As soon as the words were out of his mouth Sam stood up and left the room.

I exchanged a long look with Dean before speaking again. "How you both holding up?" I asked gently, reaching out my left hand and stroking his beautiful but tired face.

"Honestly? I don't know. I'm trying, I am. But how do I forgive him, how do I forget? He really fucked up this time B." Deans voice was low and full of pain for his little brother.

"You just got to remember D, Sammy was doing what he thought was best. He thought he was saving the world. You and me, we might have done the same thing in his situation." I told Dean while looking into his amazing eyes, my hand still resting on his cheek.

"Yeah? How was leaving you to die the right thing? My brother, Sam, he would never do that. He wouldn't do that to some stranger, let alone you. That wasn't him, they weren't his actions. He did that because of that demon bitch, and he still didn't see that listening to her was wrong! He fucked up B. I don't know how to get past that." Dean was hurt, I could see that. And I wanted nothing more than to take the pain away, but I couldn't, there was nothing I could do except carry on talking.

"You have to get past it D. He's your brother. And yeah, okay, right now I'm not exactly on his cheering squad, but I know I'll forgive him, I'll get past it. And if I can, then so can you." I said stroking his face.

"I'm not exactly on my own cheering squad either. I messed up, and I'm sorry. And I'll carry on proving that to you, to both of you. Here thought you might want a drink." Sam spoke up, stepping further into the room, making Dean and me both whip round and face him. He'd brought back three beers, he'd been trying to look out for us again. Sam placed them on the floor next to Dean before walking away again, his eyes full of unshed tears. At the door he stopped and faced us once more.

"I'm sorry Bells, if I could take it back... If I could do it differently... But I can't." And with that, he carried on walking out of the room.


	27. Chapter 27

**Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long! I've been waiting for my beta to get this chap back but she's been ill and I couldn't make you wait any longer, so here it is; spelling mistakes and all. **

**I hope you enjoy it :)**

**As always I don't own anything but wish I did!**

Chapter Twenty Seven

Consequences

Dean sat with his back against the sofa as I played with his hair, his beer and mine finished a while ago. Dean had started breathing heavily a few minutes ago, asleep and in need of it. He'd been through so much the last three days, he needed to rest, he was running on pure adrenaline I could see. I carried on playing with his hair as he slept, relaxing further as I listened to his soft breathing.

I heard someone knocking at the door and tensed up. Friend or foe? I hoped it was the former, cause busted up like I was I wasn't exactly gonna be much help if this was someone wanting to tear us to pieces. And I hated to be helpless.

I heard the sound of heavy footsteps move to the porch door off the kitchen and then the sounds of talking. Bobby and a woman. I let out a sigh of relief. Bobby's tone was his normal gruffness, it must have been a friend, maybe the nurse lady stroke hunter that Charlie had rang.

"She's through here, thanks for coming so quick." I heard Charlie speaking quietly as he lead the woman through to Bobby's study.

"Anytime Charlie. You know that, but if you pull a stunt like you did back there again, then I'm gonna kick you up the ass so hard your momma's gonna feel it. Got it?" A voice replied with a smile as the woman came into the study. I didn't need to look to know it was Ellen though, I'd recognised her voice.

"Hi." I whispered over to the woman, glad to see her, even though it had been less than a week. I loved Ellen to pieces, just from my brief stay with her. She was the perfect mixture of caring mother and don't take no shit hunter.

"Well blow me down, look who it is!" Ellen smiled at me, a wide smile that touched her eyes. It seemed that she was happy to see me as well, or she was until she took in my injuries. "What have you been doing? You look like you been ten rounds with death himself, and lost honey."

"Eve got hold of me. Tried torturing me to say yes. The usual Friday." I said trying to come off casual, but wincing at the word torture, it had become real to me over the last day or two. And I couldn't say I was a fan.

"Damn." Ellen's face paled as she kept taking in new injuries, the ones that were visible. "Right, we're gonna need to get rid of that guard dog you seem to have picked up, then we're gonna need to get those clothes off ya honey, see what we're dealing with."

"Can't we wait for Dean to wake up, he's beat." I pleaded, my hand still stroking his soft brown hair, relishing having it between my finger tips again.

"Depends. You want those bones to start setting how they are? You've waited too long as it is sugar. And I really don't fancy having to re-break them. It's a waste of my time and energy, and you don't look like you can go through much else sugar." Ellen said in a stern voice, a small frown on her beautiful face.

"Fine." I muttered, not wanting to wake Dean, but Ellen was right, I really didn't want to go through more pain than necessary. I'd been through enough to last me the rest of my life recently.

"He came to his senses then?" Ellen frowned as I gently started shaking the hunter awake.

"Eventually." I smirked up at Ellen before leaning down and whispering in his ear. "Wake up D."

"Huh! What's up!? Bella!" Dean shot up and took a defensive stance in front of me, his hand going to his gun in his waistband.

Ellen and me started giggling, and even Charlie was trying hard not to smile. "It's okay D, Ellen just needs you to move so she can get to me. Go get some sleep, you need it." I said with a soft smile for the sleep ridden man.

"I'm okay." Dean muttered looking like he was gonna fall asleep where he stood.

"Go on, go sleep. I'll be fine, Ellen will take care of me." I tried reassuring Dean, who was still looking like he wasn't sure if he needed his gun or not. I wondered when the last time he'd slept actually was, he was normally much more with it when he first woke up than this.

"No. I'm not leaving you again, look what happened last time. I'll be right here sweetheart." Dean said, his face hardening as he sat on the arm of the sofa. Then he looked up at Ellen and Charlie who were watching the exchange, both with frowns on their faces. "Ellen?!" Dean exclaimed with a mixture of disbelief and happiness.

"In the flesh." Ellen smiled at Dean before opening her arms. "Come here boy, let me get a look at you." Dean stood with a smirk on his face and ventured over to the woman, a cocky swagger to his walk that I was pretty sure wasn't going to go down well. If I was Ellen I'd have smacked him upside the head.

As soon as Dean reached Ellen's side the woman pulled her hand back and slapped him with force. The resulting sound, flesh on flesh made me wince and my heart rate pick up. "What's wrong with you boy!? You don't ring and let me know you and you're idiot brother are ok? You better put me on speed dial kid!" Ellen glared at Dean before lifting her hand and slapping him again. "That one's for Bella, cause I'm guessing she didn't clock you one herself! You do that to her again I'm coming after you with a gun. Okay?" Ellen said with force.

"Ouch!" Dean muttered while raising his hand and rubbing at his flame red cheek.

My heart rate had picked up again, I wanted to move, to go to Dean, to stop Ellen's attack on him. Didn't she know how much he'd been through? And more pain, more violence was not what we needed right now.

"Actually she did clock me one. Punched me right in the face." Dean muttered while smiling at Ellen. I rolled my eyes and relaxed a bit. I didn't get men. Any of them, they were a complete mystery to me.

"Good one sugar." Ellen winked at me. "Now, you." She pointed a finger at Charlie and looked stern. "Go back and let Bobby finish patching you up! And you." She pointed a stern finger at Dean. "Go get some sleep, you're no good to anyone if you're dead on you're feet are ya?"

"I'm not leaving!" My dad protested at the same time Dean spoke up.

"I'm not leaving her side!"

"Errr... Guys!" I called making all eyes in the room dart to me. "I'm still here remember. Dad, go get yourself taken care of. You know Ellen will look after me." I told him with a small smile that I wasn't feeling, the thoughts and feelings that I'd had with the shifter dad had started coming back. But I'd have to wait to deal with them, Charlie needed taking care of first, and as much as it pained me to admit it so did I.

"Dean, go get some sleep. Please." I begged the hunter with my eyes, but his face was remained hard and he crossed his arms. I sighed as I realised that was one battle I was going to lose. Dean wasn't going to leave.

"I'm not leaving you again Bella." Dean repeated his words from earlier, sadness hidden deep in his eyes.

"You didn't leave. I did." I said softly. "My choice remember?"

"I could have gone with you." Dean said in a voice so small that it was almost a whisper, his eyes staring into mine, trying to tell me what his voice couldn't. I'd got so good at reading him, at reading both of the brothers that I understood. He thought this was his fault, every bump, every bruise, cut and broken part on me he blamed on himself. And he wanted to show me he wouldn't let it happen again. But he was wrong, so wrong. It wasn't his fault, none of this was, what happened to me or Sammy. I just didn't know how to get through to him. He was pig-headed at the best of times.

"You didn't have a choice D. You had to be there and you know it. And I had to face my past." I told him, my voice soft as my heart ached for him.

"As cute as this is and all, I really need to start taking care of those injuries." Ellen replied, her voice blunt and to the point. "Charlie get out of here! And Dean if you're gonna stay get over there and stay there." She barked at the two men. Both pulled faces but followed her instructions anyway. Ellen was a formidable woman at the best of times, but she was almost angry now.

"Right let's see what we're dealing with here honey." Ellen said sitting in front of me and pulling out a pair of scissors from a bag that I hadn't noticed dangling from her arm amidst all the drama. It was a faded leather black medicine bag that looked like it had seen it's fair share of war wounds, actually in wars. It was beat up to hell, but it had still been taken care of. Patches darker than others stood out where it had been fixed time and time again, and one handle had obviously been replaced looking almost brand new next to it's dull and faded partner.

"Don't move sugar." Ellen said as she leant down and cut my shirt straight down the middle from top to bottom, the noise of fabric breaking under the steel blades loud in my ears.

As my injuries started showing through the ripped fabric of my shirt Ellen took in a shaky breath. "It's okay honey, it's okay. I'll give ya something for the pain." Her voice was shaken and her face had turned pale, her hands shaking as she reached into her bag for something else.

"No!" Dean said sitting up from his chair where I thought he'd fallen reluctantly back to sleep. The force of his body rocking the chair forward so fast that it made a ominous groaning noise that would have worried me if I'd have been the one sat on it.

"No what?" Ellen asked as she pulled out a syringe full of clear liquid from the depths of her bag.

"No drugs. Eve pumped her full of something, cocaine and caffeine that we know of. You give her more drugs..."

"Dean I've got to give her something, the pain..." Ellen said, looking back over my body and taking in another shaky breath. "Honey, how the hell you aren't screaming blue murder is beyond me."

"It's not so bad anymore. Honest." I said after she'd given me a pale, disbelieving look. "Whatever Eve gave me has taken the edge off." I smiled up at her then Dean.

Dean got up off his chair and started walking towards us, his face curious but still wrapped in a deep frown.

"Kid, you don't wanna look trust me. Sit back down. I'll call ya if she needs her hand holding." Ellen frowned at Dean before looking back at me. She took one more look at me and sighed. "I'm gonna need to fix these little wounds and those burns, and those cuts will need stitching before I can tape up those broken ribs. Okay honey?" She told me, trying to reassure me but the worry in her eyes did anything but.

"Yeah. Sure." I said.

Ellen nodded and went back to work cutting off the rest of my top and my bra so that I was completely naked from the waist up. I went to move my left arm to cover myself up but Ellen shook her head at me. "Ain't nothing I haven't seen before. But you carry on moving that arm and I'm gonna get Dean over here to hold it still. And I'm not so sure it's nothing he hasn't seen before. Got it?" I nodded and smiled at her, understanding what she was saying, but still blushing furiously as my chest lay bare in front of the woman.

"Okay, let's get started then." Ellen said with another frown. She pulled out some cotton wipes and some foul smelling solution that she doused them in before bringing one down on to one of the worse cuts, just over my right breast.

I tried to hold still as the solution bit into my tender flesh, making the wound burn and sting. "Shit!" I called gritting my teeth, but my body tried moving away from the burning hot pain, causing all my other injuries to move and for me to scream.

"Dean!" Ellen called over to him. Dean shot out of his chair and was holding me down faster than should have been possible in his fatigued state.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean raged, disgust pure on his face as he took in the injuries on show.

I looked away, trying to hide the pain and hurt in my eyes. The look of disgust on his face hurt. Hurt worse than the sting of the antiseptic did.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean shouted again, fury hardened his shout as he looked even more closely at the small wounds covering me. "Jesus B...!" He took a sharp breath in that made me turn back to look at him. His beautiful face had paled with a green tinge to it. He looked like he was gonna hurl everywhere.

"Hey! If you're gonna toss your cookies watch the material, Bobby will kick your ass." I tried joking with him, and trying hard to hide how much his reaction hurt me behind humour.

"How the hell are you still even alive?" Dean whispered to me, his hands firmer on my body as I tried to move away from the sting of Ellen's needle as she started fixing the gaping hole in my chest.

"Couldn't leave you and Sammy could I? Look what happened last time I did." I smiled through the pain.

"Sweetheart..." Dean obviously didn't know what to say, so he shut his mouth again and turned his head away from me. But not before I caught sight of his amazing eyes filling with unshed tears.

~0~

It took three hours for Ellen to stitch up, disinfect and clean all my cuts and bruises on my top half before wrapping my broken ribs so tightly that I could barely breath and then putting a cast onto my broken arm. Her face when she'd finished was haunted and bone weary tired.

"Okay I'll get you a top and then we'll start on your legs honey." Ellen said in the softest voice I'd ever heard her use. Something that didn't sit right in the tough woman's mouth.

"You're tired. You both are." I said shooting Dean a look as I did. He hadn't left my side the entire time and eventually the tears from his eyes had started falling as I screamed. After that he'd become hard, cut off from it all, the only soft thing about him was his hands that remained holding me down. "Why don't you sleep before then?" I suggested to both of them, my voice hoarse from screaming, my eyes tired as the drug cocktail finally started wearing off.

"I told ya Bella, I'm not leaving." Dean told me, his voice monotone as he spoke, his face and eyes still hard as he refused to look at me.

"We'll get Bobby or Sam to come hold me down. Please at least try to sleep in a chair or something." I asked, I didn't think I could take looking at his eyes anymore. Eyes which were normally so bright with life but were now hard and dead.

"No." Dean simply said, still not looking at me.

"Bella, those wounds are gonna get worse the longer I leave them. Don't worry about us sugar." She tried to smile at me but it fell flat.

"Fine." I huffed, knowing that these two people wouldn't be swayed, even if I begged.

~0~

"B... C'mon B wake up sweetheart. It's okay. I'm here. I've got you." Soft yet urgent words brought my out of my medically induced sleep.

Sweat covered my body, my body which currently was swathed in so much material and casting that I looked like a hammer horror mummy reject. My heart was thumping loudly and tears were drying on my face.

A light snapped on in the pitch dark room lighting my surroundings and Dean who'd obviously woke me from my nightmare. But I didn't have to look at my body casing to know it had been real, all I had to was look into Deans haunted eyes.

"You're okay sweetheart, I've got you." Dean whispered to me climbing gently onto the familiar bed with me and holding me softly in his muscular arms, his worn calloused fingers softly stroked my hair and brought down my furiously beating heart. I'd been put to bed in the spare room that I'd always used when I came to Bobby's, the room I'd started to think of as mine. "You're okay." Dean kept repeating the mantra as he held me, but I think he was trying to reassure himself more than me.

Just as I started to relax into Deans arms the door to my room crashed open so fiercely that it hit the wall with a bang, the handle ripping a chunk of plaster from the wall.

"Bella! What's wrong?!" Charlie ran into my room, Ellen, Bobby and Sam right behind him. They all look worried for a brief second before Ellen, Bobby and Sam relaxed on seeing me in Deans arms, the tears drying on my face.

Dad though was a bit slow on the uptake. "Get off of her!? What did you do!?" He shouted furiously, his face turning a mottled red as his eyes flashed at Dean.

"Dad, it's okay, I had a nightmare. Dean woke me up." I told Charlie, my voice hoarse from screaming and crying.

"Oh... sorry kid." Charlie managed to look a bit shame faced before his anger quickly returned. "I don't like him in here with you." He huffed out as Ellen, Sam and Bobby quickly retreated with sad looks at Dean and me. They obviously didn't want to get caught up in the family row. Not that I blamed them.

"And what do you thinks gonna happen with me like this dad?" I asked while raising my eyebrows. "Cause I'm pretty sure this look isn't a turn on. Though the sooner the better."

"Shut up!" Dean whispered in my ear, obviously not appreciating my attempt at a joke. But his hands hadn't left me yet, his fingers still gently wound in my long brown hair.

"That's not the point Bella." Charlie said, a deep frown carved into his forehead.

"Dad, I'm twenty. I'm a woman and I've been sharing a room with Dean and Sam for the past few months. I think we'll be fine. Now if you don't mind I'd like to at least try and get some sleep." I told my dad.

"I don't like this kid." Charlie said to me reproachfully.

"You don't have to like it." I told him simply before yawning and closing my eyes, still in Deans strong but gentle embrace.

I heard a deep sigh and then the closing of a door, or more like the slamming of a door before Dean relaxed a little.

"This is the reason I've never met parents before. They don't like me." He whispered into my ear, I could hear the smirk in his voice and smiled.

"Sorry." I apologised to Dean, this must be awful for him. Not only was his girlfriend injured so badly that she looked like a poster child for not drinking and driving but now he also had to put up with his girlfriends over protective father who was also a damn good shot.

"Not your fault sweetheart." Dean said before placing a kiss on my hair.

"So, my last few days have been pretty action packed. What about yours?" I asked, not ready to go back to sleep and face my demons just yet and needing to know just how fucked we were.

"Smooth B." Dean chuckled, but I could feel the tension spring to his limbs and I could hear the reluctance to speak in his voice.

"D, you haven't told me anything yet. What happened? How fucked are we?" I asked.

"I'd say we were screwed. And not in the good way." Dean told me with a sigh. I sat in silence and waited for him to continue. "Okay." He said before moving so that he could see my face and I could see his. His face was lined with fatigue even through the hard mask that he put on. "Short version?" I nodded, if that's all he wanted to tell me then I'd accept it. Just as long as I knew something.

"Sam and I ganked Ruby who was just stood laughing her evil bitch face off as Lucifer started to leak out of his cage. Then just as I thought me and Sam were really done for. Poof." Dean said, his voice was trying for light and open but failing.

"Poof?" I asked with a giggle, not use to hearing him speak like that. And really, coming out of the hard faced hunters mouth it was kind of funny.

"Yeah poof." Dean smiled at me while rolling his eyes. "Sam and I were on an aeroplane. Flying away from the huge shining light that was leaking into the sky where Lucifer was breaking free."

"You must have loved being on that plane. But how did ya get there? Cas?" I asked confused.

"No. Cas is..." Dean sighed and suddenly his mask broke, all the pain he felt, his fatigue, his heartache it was all on show for me to see and my heart broke just a little for the man in front of me. He took a deep breath before speaking again. "Cas is dead sweetheart. So we haven't even got the angel up our sleeve anymore."

"Damn." I said with real sadness. I couldn't believe it. Cas. Cas always seemed unreal to me, a robot almost, and robots didn't die, they couldn't be killed. I'd believed that Cas had been invisible and it really sucked to have my reality shattered like that. It must have sucked worse for Dean though, him and Cas were really close, seeing as Cas was the one who dragged Dean back from hell and all.

A lump started forming in my throat, one that was so hard to swallow. Everything was so fucked up; all of it. Sam and Lucifer, Eve, Charlie, being tortured and now Cas. What more could we all take? What more could be thrown at us?

"Balls." I said softly, sadness leaking into my voice. That one word that Bobby was so fond of seemed to sum everything up.

"I know sweetheart. Balls." Dean repeated not even trying for a smirk or smile. It was too much right now.

I sighed before smiling slightly. "Well, we won't have to worry about one thing as soon as these damn casts are off." I told Dean.

"What?" He frowned at me, obviously not seeing where I was going with this.

"Eve." I replied with a mischievous grin.

"Either you're speaking in riddles or I'm too tired to trudge through the shit. What do you mean?" Dean asked me trying for stern but hiding a smile in response to my own.

"As soon as these casts are off we can work on making me 'un-pure'." I told him still grinning and raising my eyebrows.

Dean feigned looking hurt and raised a hand to his chest as though wounded. "Is that what this is all about? You're using me!?"

I laughed at that, a proper laugh, something that had been missing for a while from our lives. "Do you mind?" I giggled while fluttering my eyelashes at the gorgeous man sat next to me, feeling his muscles press into my back and almost salivating. I never quite got use to just how sexy Dean was. I hoped I never would.

"Surprisingly no." Dean smirked at me before lowering his head to mine and kissing my lips softly. "Not at all." He muttered before kissing me harder, his tongue licking gently across my bottom lip. I shivered with desire as I opened my mouth and let him in. Kissing Dean was perfect. Like every christmas and birthday ever coming as one.

"Is this a bad time?" A deep monotone voice rang out making Dean and me spring apart and Dean move so that he was blocking me protectively. We turned as one to look from where the voice had come from.

"Cas!?" Dean and I exclaimed together.

"Yes. Sorry, I heard my name. I thought that perhaps you wanted me." Cas said, obviously not taking in the fact that Dean and I were both stunned and amazed to see him stood in front of us when he should have been dead. I knew he was invincible!

"But... You're dead?" Dean asked sounding stunned but I could hear the hope in his voice. The hope that maybe we weren't so alone in this after all. The hope that his friend really was here and he wasn't dreaming.

"I was. Now I'm not." Cas said sounding underwhelmed with his whole ordeal.

"It's good to see you Cas!" Dean said getting off the bed carefully and clapping a manly hand to the angels shoulder.

"Thank you. I'm happy to see you too Dean. Perhaps we should talk, heaven's awash with activity now Lucifer has been raised. We need to stop him. Where is Sam?" Cas asked.

"On the sofa probably. Hang on and we'll go find him. And Bobby, he'll want to hear this too." Dean said, his eyes wide and happy as he looked at Castiel once more. Finally something was playing in our favour. Things were looking up.

Dean came over to the bed and very gently and carefully slid me to the edge so he could lift me and carry me downstairs.

"Bella. What happened?" Castiel asked me with a frown. His startling blue eyes taking in my casts and my generally beaten appearance.

"Eve, she got me and tortured me." I told the angel with a smile, glad to see him back with us again.

"But still you did not say yes. Free will." Castiel mused looking faintly happy. Well as happy as something with no emotion could look anyway.

"Nope. And look I've got some shiny new casts to show me just how impressive I was." I said with an eyeroll.

"I take it that you do not enjoy those things stuck to your appendix's." Cas asked with a small frown.

"No." I replied, sarcasm was wasted on him so what was the point.

Cas stepped forward and placed a finger to my forehead. Instantly everything stopped hurting. Every bruise that I could see vanished as did the cuts and the stitches. I loved having an angel on side!

"You shouldn't need them anymore." Cas informed me while trying to smile but failing, still it was almost an emotion so I smiled wide for him. And for me.

"Thanks Cas!" I said trying to stand up and give the guy a hug but falling over as the stupid casts were still on and prevented me from actually walking.

"Yeah. Maybe we should get those off first B?" Dean suggested with a lift of his eyebrows and a snigger. I flipped him off but was smiling wider than before as I did.

My casts would be coming off and that could only mean one thing to me; I'd finally not be of any use to Eve.

**So, what did you think of that chapter? Let me know! And next it's the one you've all been waiting for... Until then, love always Tametiger xx**

**P.S.**

**I've just found the Vampire Dairies! (I know, I know, I've been living under a rock) watching it I had sooo many ideas and have already started writing them down, I'm desperate for a Beta so if anyone's interested give me a PM or tell me in a review! Xx**


	28. Chapter 28

**Hey guys, sorry I've taken sooo long. I'm not going to give you a list of excuses. No instead I'm going to give you a big juicy lemon. **

**I lost my beta so this is probably full of mistakes; for that I apologise and hope that you enjoy it anyway. **

**As always I own nothing. **

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Something Special

"Wait, so you're telling me that I went through all that shit, for nothing!?" Ellen snapped as Dean plugged in the electric saw to take off my casts.

"Yeah. Sorry about that, but I went through it all too." I smiled bashfully at the pissed off woman.

"Whatever. I'm glad you're okay now honey. That would've been one rocky road to recovery." She told me while smiling back at me, it seemed I was forgiven.

"Hang on a second. Let me get this straight. You've got an angel as a friend? And he's just popped down here and fixed you right up?" Charlie asked me with a frown, ignoring Sam and Deans presence in the room but shooting Castiel mistrustful glances every now and then.

"Yup." I agreed while beaming a smile at the angel in question.

"So why didn't he just beam down and fix ya to start with? Or better yet why didn't he come and save you before you went through all of that?" Charlie was angry again, but he wasn't directing it at me, not really. He was obviously just upset that I went through all the crap that I did when he thought there was an alternative.

"I could not just 'beam down', I was dead. If I had been able to save Bella before she was tortured I would have done so. Dean would have made sure of that. I am sorry that I couldn't save you that pain Bella." Cas said with a sad look in his amazing blue eyes before turning back to Charlie. "You are Bella's father, correct?" Castiel asked while looking from Charlie to me with muted interest.

"Yeah, I'm her dad. What of it?" Charlie replied still surly.

I didn't hear the rest of what was said though as the grinding noise of the saw cutting through the cast on my arm drowned it out.

I turned my head away from the flying plaster and tried not to flinch, though even if I had of done Bobby had my arm in a steel grip from the top and Dean had one hand holding me down as the other wielded the saw cutting through the plaster cast. I can't say I wasn't worried, but I knew Dean would hurt himself before he hurt me.

Still I did sigh a breath of relief as the saw stopped and I felt a tingle of fresh air on my arm.

"One down, two to go." Dean smirked at me before looking to Bobby who held down my right leg.

Five minutes later and with plaster cast everywhere, I was free. Free of my three casts and I couldn't have been happier. "Oh that feels amazing!" I said with a grin as I stood up and stretched my arms.

"Looks pretty good too sweetheart." Dean smirked at me as he took in my bare mid-drift where my t-shirt was riding up.

I smirked backed back at him, anticipation and nerves making my stomach leap. That was until Charlie cleared his throat and very pointedly cocked his gun anyway.

"So Castiel is it? You just come all this way to fix up Bella? Or ya got something to tell us handsome?" Ellen asked hastily, while shooting a glare in my dads direction. Seemed my father was being a little hypocritical, hmm... Wasn't sure whether that intrigued me or just disgusted me.

"I didn't come to heal Bella, no. Though I'm glad I was able to help." Castiel tried to smile in my direction. "I've come because of Lucifer."

"Lucifer, Lucifer as in the devil? That lucifer?" Ellen asked, her eyes bugging out.

"Yes. The angel you call Satan. He's free. And heaven is trying to track him down. He's looking for a vessel, someone to use until he can find his true vessel. I came to tell you, that when he does things will be start to become terrible for the humans here. The end times are approaching and you need to make sure that you are all ready. I'm sorry that we were unable to stop him. Now we just need to be ready. Dean, Uriel has put out the word that you are to be found when Lucifer finds a vessel." Castiel told us.

Bobby, Sam, Dean and I were listening with serious, worried but calm expressions, taking it in but in our stride, we'd been expecting something like this. Hoping it wouldn't happen, but expecting it anyway. Ellen however had a hand to her mouth, her expression looked like she was one piece of bad news away from a breakdown. Charlie looked like he'd just been told that someone had died. His face turned pale, his hands shaking and his eyes wide.

"I don't want to be found, do I?" Dean asked seriously.

"Probably not, no." Castiel replied.

"So, what, I go into hiding? Is that it? Cause dude that's not really my style, and that's not exactly going to help get rid of lucifer is it?" Dean asked, his voice hard and biting, a tension muscle in his cheek spasiming, he was obviously stressed beyond belief but I thought he was a little worried as well.

"No. And hiding will not work. The other angels can find you just as easily as I can." Castiel said.

"Well that's just the cream on top of the pie isn't it? Frigging excellent." Dean snapped.

"I can hide you, from all the angels. That will include myself." Castiel said.

"Great, so do it." Dean answered his voice slightly relieved.

Castiel inclined his head and stepped towards Dean, his hand outstretched. As Cas's hand touched Deans forehead Dean gasped in agony before falling to his knees.

"Dean!" Sam and I shouted together before both kneeling besides him.

"Dean?" I asked, fear creeping up my spine, my hands trying to comfort, trying to find out what was wrong with him.

"What did you do to him?!" Sam shouted as Bobby, Charlie and Ellen all pointed a guns at the angel.

"I carved Enocian symbols into his ribs, he is untraceable by angels now." Castiel answered not at all fazed that three mad as hell hunters were pointing guns in his direction. "There will be no lasting pain, it hurts, only for a second."

"Son of a bitch! That one stung!" Dean said sitting up, slightly breathlessly.

"You ok?" I asked gently, my hands still on his shoulder.

"Peachey." Dean replied with a grimace before getting to his feet. Sam and I exchanged an eye roll, back to our normal selves for a second before Sam looked quickly away and stood back up. I followed suit, feeling a bit sad for the relationships that were now so tense. We'd fix it, of that I had no doubt, but right now I just didn't know how.

"Okay, so what now?" Dean asked, looking more relaxed now that we weren't going to be dropped in on by the God squad.

Castiel stepped forward once more and spreading his arms wide placed a finger to Sam's forehead and to mine as well.

Burning white pain hit my ribs, so hot and agonising that I instantly dropped to my knees with a scream. I vaguely heard Sam doing the same next to me.

As the pain started receding I looked up, Charlie was by my side, Bobby by Sam's and Dean had Castiel by the scruff of his shirt, his eyes furious, his fist clenched and pulled back. Somehow I didn't think that punching the only asset we had so far was a great idea. Before I could say anything though Sam spoke up, his voice laboured with the aftermath of the agony we'd just experienced.

"Dean! Let it go. We're fine, right Bells?" Sam said.

"Yeah, fine." I panted, smiling up at Charlie to reassure him as well. His brown eyes, so like my own were worried and searched my face for any hint of a lie. I was fine though, it didn't hurt at all anymore. Though if I went through anymore pain in the next few hours I was crawling under my bed and not coming out for a while.

"I'm sorry, I had to do it. Sam and Bella would still have been able to be found, and as you are always together..." Castiel trailed off as Dean lowered him back to his feet.

"You sure you're okay?" Dean bit out, his voice harsh, his eyes not leaving Cas just yet.

"Yeah, fine." Sam replied getting to his feet with the help of Bobby.

"B?" Dean asked.

"I'm fine Dean." I said softly, smiling my thanks at my dad as he put a supporting hand under my arm to help me to my feet.

Castiel got a strange look on his face, like he was thinking hard or listening to something. "I must go. If you need me, pray." With a sound like fluttering wings Cas had vanished and Dean was left looking at faded red wall paper.

"Well that was fun." I muttered, dusting my pants off from the floor and plaster pieces.

"Yeah, a hoot. Now... The devil?" Ellen asked looking at everyone in the room in turn. "Why am I the only one who seems really surprised by this news?" She barked at us, even Bobby looked away awkwardly from her steely gaze. "I think you've got some explaining to do!" She snapped at Bobby and Charlie. "And I could use a drink!" She added as Charlie looked at me and opened his mouth with a frown that seemed permanently etched into his face now.

As Ellen, Charlie, Bobby and Sam started to make their way to the kitchen Ellen whispered to me. "Get out of here, go have some fun, I'll keep your daddy off your case tonight. But tomorrow you're on you're own sugar."

"Thanks." I whispered back. Ellen just winked at me with a smile in her eye, before sending a small glare to Dean. Seemed she hadn't completely forgiven him for his slights just yet.

"You heard Ellen sweetheart. Pack a bag, we're going to have some fun." Dean told me with a wink, making my heart pick up in my chest and my stomach flutter wildly.

I swallowed nervously. "And why would I need a bag D? Are you planning on keeping me out all night?" I asked trying to flirt, but the nerves I was feeling came through in my voice.

"Not if you don't want me to B. Never anything you don't want me to do." Dean said, his eyes and voice softening. He stepped towards me and wrapped his arms around me before placing a chase kiss softly to my lips that had my heart racing once more. He was perfect. "We can just go watch a movie and get some food if ya want sweetheart? Anything you want to do. Let's just spend some time together and forget that the world's ending, just for tonight."

"Awww... Dean, that was just beautiful. Seriously. Can you write poems as well?" I teased with a smirk, but secretly loving him just a bit more for those sincere, if perhaps corny words.

"Shut up!" Dean said with a grin, his eyes lighting up as I laughed.

"Make me!" I replied while raising my eyebrows at him.

Dean took the challenge and kissed me again, not as softly this time but still gently, one of his hands cupping the nape of my neck the other going to my lower back. I moaned slightly as I felt his hard muscles straining through his green button down at the same time his tongue entered my mouth.

We moved apart as a deep voice coughed pointedly. Bobby was stood watching us with amusement in his eyes. "Dean, Charlie catches you two like that he's gonna shoot off something vital ya igit. I thought you had more sense of self preservation." The older man said as he pulled a book out from one of his over worked bookcases. One of these days they were going to collapse under the weight of hundreds of books piled on top of each other.

"Yeah, yeah. We're going out anyway. Don't wait up." Dean winked at Bobby.

"I don't wanna know." Bobby growled with a look of disgust before walking back into the kitchen muttering under his breath making both Dean and I smile fondly. You just had to love Bobby.

"I'll go pack a bag." I smiled gently at Dean before heading up to my room. Still nervous but feeling better, it was Dean. And Dean would look after me, that I knew with everything I had.

~0~

"And then she said 'you're like the shiny new toy or something'." I said laughing with Dean and enjoying hearing his deep laugh that seemed to echo through my very soul.

We'd been and got some food at a near-by dinner and were now looking for a motel that still had vacancy signs. It was almost two in the morning, but I'd never felt less tired, well except for when I'd had the special drug mixture from Eve rushing round my system.

Dean had been right, this was just what we needed, a night together alone, forgetting about the rest of the world. Just laughing and joking, losing ourselves in each other and reminding ourselves why we even started going together; best friends above everything else. Though the sexual tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife as we pulled into a motel parking lot.

"So what do you think then B?" Dean asked me with a smirk as he switched off the engine to his baby. "I'm guessing it's gonna be a marina theme tonight."

"Hmmm..." I studied the drab outside of the two story motel, taking in the faded blue signs and doors as well as the bench outside also painted blue. "Blue and green decor, dirty bathroom, hideous dark brown furniture." I said with a laugh as Dean grabbed our two small bags from the back-seat before I followed him to the reception area.

"I've got you beat this time sweetheart." Dean muttered as we walked into the reception which had a heavy nautical theme going on.

"Damn." I muttered with a giggle taking in the hideously decorated room. The clock on the turquoise painted walls was an octopus, two of it's legs pointing out the wrong time. The desk which enclosed an overweight, spotty guy had deep blue waves glued on the front on the crappy laminate wood. We always picked the worse places to stay.

Dean signed us in, using one of his fake credit cards and grabbed the key while looking like he was having the time of his life. I loved this side of Dean, one I got to see not nearly enough. He was completely relaxed and at ease, his face shining with a true smile, his eyes lightened with happiness and his limbs normally too tight with tension relaxed and loose. I can't even begin describe how good it made me feel to know that I'd made him feel like that. But it wasn't anywhere near how I felt when I was around Dean, I felt ecstatic, I felt at peace with the world, whole.

"C'mon B." Dean said reaching out a hand to me and leading us to our room for the night. I followed with a grin as we walked up a worn set of stairs, grimacing at the pictures of sail boats that were bolted periodically along the walls to the room.

Dean opened the door and threw the bags into the room with a smile, blocking the doorway with his impressive frame so that not only could I not enter but I also couldn't see just how bad the room was.

Dean turned and faced me with a smirk before raising his eyebrows and picking me up bridal style, carrying me into the room, making me squeal with laughter. "Dean put me down you igit!" I said through peals of giggles, hitting him gently on the shoulder.

"Sorry sweetheart. I can't." Dean said with a huge smile on his face.

"Wow." I announced as I took in the room around us, Dean moved me round so I could get a three hundred and fifty degree view of just how awful our surroundings were. "Is that a...?"

"Yup that's a mermaid above the bed alright." He smirked.

"Wow." I repeated. The room was worse than I could have imagined. The bed covers were blue with waves and star fish printed on them, the floor was badly carpeted blue, the walls the same faded and scuffed turquoise as the reception, the furniture was all painted mismatched blues and above the bed screwed to the wall was a plastic three foot mermaid.

"That's exactly what I was thinking." Dean said, his voice soft. When I tore my eyes away from the amazingly bad room Deans eyes were focused on me, heavily lidded with lust and something else, something I thought just might have been love.

My arms still wrapped around Deans neck I leant in and captured his lips softly with my own. My nerves and butterflies of anticipation returning once more.

Dean responded to my kiss, pulling me tighter into him, letting out a soft groan as I gently nibbled his full bottom lip before licking it. I melted as his mouth opened and our tongues started tangling together, a sweet, passionate dance that I didn't ever want to stop.

Dean didn't falter or break our mind-numbing amazing kiss as he walked us over to the bed and laid us both down on it. His huge muscles straining as he held me still in his arms.

I let out a gasp of pure delight as Deans lips moved from my lips to my neck. Every touch from him sending shivers of electricity racing round my body. My hands tore off his shirt, wanting to feel his hard chest and stomach under my arms, wanting to feel him react to my touch like he usually did.

He broke away from me, his eyes shining with a smile and never leaving mine as he pulled of his button down and then his wife beater, giving me a fantastic view of his well toned body.

I pulled him to me, crashing my lips against his as his hands went to my own top. He didn't brake the kiss this time to stop and let me get undressed, he'd obviously been waiting for this for too long, instead he ripped my shirt open, straight down the middle. The fabric tearing and his muscles bunching to do it had me moaning into his mouth. It was such a turn on.

His hands were now on my bare skin; circling my waist, trailing down my stomach and coming tantalisingly close to my breasts, but never touching them, teasing me and making me groan with frustration and want.

One of his arms circled my back, his hand tracing a line up my spine until he reached my bra, which he undid with the one hand and just a flick of the wrist.

I moaned loud as Deans hands cupped my free breasts, rolling my hard nipples gently between expert fingers.

My hand went to the waistband of his thick jeans that hardly concealed his massive erection. I pulled his belt off and undid the button on his jeans, desperate for this, desperate for him. I pulled his jeans down urgently, gasping and moaning as Dean groaned into my mouth, his hands still teasing my boobs. God he was amazing.

As soon as he was free of his jeans I went to work releasing him from his tight fitting black boxer shorts. My hand wrapped round his impressive hard-on, feeling the velvety soft muscle become impossibly harder under my heavy touch.

"God B." Dean moaned moving from my mouth to my neck once more. One of his hands left my upper body to run a finger along my waistband, the slow, agonisingly close finger had sparks shooting straight to my core, liquid pooling between my legs and gasping once more.

"Please!" I moaned as his hand cupped me through my panties, my buttons worked free somehow, my jeans lower on my hips.

Dean pulled back and looked me in the eye, his face soft with a smile as he laid me back down, his hands gentle as the removed first my jeans and then my panties very slowly.

He laid back down next to me, his lips tracing a path from my cheek down my neck then along my collar bone to my breasts. As he took one nipple into his mouth this hand went in between my legs, tracing my sex with a finger before sliding it very gently inside of me.

"Oh god, Dean!" I moaned as he licked at my nipple, another finger entering me, thrusting gently in and then out, his thumb finding the little bundle of nerves just above.

His lips carried on crawling down my body, stopping at my bellybutton and working round it then going further down. I couldn't stop moaning, every touch had me burning, every kiss set me on fire, every inch of his long fingers incredible.

His thumb which had been taking me higher and higher was quickly replaced by his tongue and I couldn't help but gasp in delight. It felt amazing, better than amazing. He'd never done this before, it had me coming closer to the edge faster than ever.

Soon I was riding the waves of the most intense orgasm I'd ever felt, my hips bucking up into him, my screams echoing round the room and Deans mouth curving into a smile as he moved back to watch me.

Panting, breathless, a huge smile gracing my lips I reached for my man and pulled him up to me. I kissed him hard on the lips, not satisfied yet, wanting to feel him inside me for the first time.

Without words he moved so that his hard muscle was poised at the edge of my entrance. "You sure B?" He asked me softly.

I nodded, I was scared as hell and I was pretty sure this was gonna hurt, but I needed it.

"I'll take care of you sweetheart." Dean whispered into my ear before placing a long slow gentle kiss to my mouth. My lips moved softly with his as, very slowly he pushed his way into my.

Soon I felt him hit something inside of me that made me squirm with the smallest bit of pain. He stopped kissing me, his hands wrapped in my hair and looked me in the eyes. His amazing green owns boarded into mine as he pushed past my barrier.

It hurt, it really fucking hurt. My eyes squeezed together, trying to stop the small tears of pain that were forming, but Dean tilted my chin up to him, making me look at him once more.

"You okay sweetheart?" He asked me, his lips so close to mine that I could feel them moving. I just nodded not trusting myself to speak. "Do you want me to stop." Dean asked softly.

"No." I pleaded, rolling my hips and pushing him further into me, I felt myself opening up round him, the pain lessening as I rolled my hips once more, moving him in me, the pain was wearing off and the pleasure I was getting was so much better.

"God B." Dean gasped as he pulled back before pushing in again. Filling me completely and ever so sweetly.

"Ahh..." I moaned out as he pushed in to me once more, hitting a spot deep within me and making me arch further into him. My hands clutching at his well toned shoulders.

"Bella." Dean hissed as one of his huge arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer to him, further into me, so close together that it was impossible to tell where we separated.

"Oh god!" I moaned as he kept hitting that spot deep inside of me, his thrusts faster and slightly harder, his ragged breath mingling with my own gasps.

Suddenly I was on fire, I was burning brightly and every inch of me was pulsing with pure pleasure. "Dean!" I screamed, the feeling unlike any I'd ever experienced. Nothing that Dean or I had done together had taken me this high, had me feeling like this; as though I was flying.

"Bella!" Dean growled out loud, his thrusts harder, his hold tighter, his hands grasping as he pushed further into me.

He growled out with one final thrust, his body shaking and quaking on top of my own, our hands entwined our breathing in synch.

After a minute Dean opened his brilliant green eyes and bored deep into mine, a smile gracing his beautiful face, his hands stroking my long brown hair off of my face.

"How you doing sweetheart?" He asked me in barely a whisper, but I could hear the tiniest amount of anxiety in his voice. "I didn't hurt you?"

"That was amazing!" I gasped out, feeling content.

Dean smirked at me before placing a kiss to my lips softly and tenderly. "I love you B." He whispered so quietly I barely heard him.

"I love you too." I whispered back.

**A big fat juicy lemon complete with fluff. Hope that makes up a little for the absence. Leave me a review to say that you still love me? Love always Tametiger x**


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